Reality Squared
by The Altered Destinies
Summary: A Sequel to Reality Bytes
1. Chapter 1

RollRanSquare Jim Robert Bader

Realities Squared September 09, 1999 Roll Call:

Continuum #12694780("Quantum Destinies," by Steve Thesken)

?-17, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi

?-16, lavender haired daughter of Shampoo and Nabiki

?-15, dark haired daughter of Nabiki and Ranma

Continuum #29457180("Knights and Warriors," by Jim R. Bader)

Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Kodachi Saotome and Ranma.

Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Tendo and Mousse.

Continuum #29715382("The Bitter End," by Zen, a parallel earth)

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Akane Saotome and Ranma.  
Jusenkyo Curse: Nanniichuan

Meiko Saotome-12, black haired daughter of Akane Saotome and Ranma

Continuum #32145896("A Tale of Two Wallets," by Jim R. Bader)

Kachima Saotome-16, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Saotome and Ranma

Kokaku Saotome-15, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Saotome and Ranma

Shanma Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Shampoo Saotome and Ranma Jusenkyo Curse: Mao-Nyaniichuan (cat-girl)

Mace Saotome-15, indigo haired son of Shampoo Saotome and Ranma

Honsamu Kuonji-16, dark haired son of Akane Kuonji and Ukyo-kun

Kinko Kuonji-14, dark haired daughter of Akane Kuonji and Ukyo-kun Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel

Nauru Tofu-17, brown haired son of Kachu Tofu and Ono-Sensei

Kusariboru Tendo-15, dark haired fusion daughter of Kasumi Tendo and Kodachi

Continuum #46972185("Shampoo 1/2," by D. B. Sommers)

Silver Saotome-17, silver haired daughter of Ranma Saotome and Shampoo-kun Jusenkyo Curse: Nanniichuan

Narasuma Saotome-18, dark haired son of Nodoka Saotome and Ranma

Kiri Tendo-18, dark haired daughter of Silk Tendo and Soun

Akira Tendo-20, black haired son of Kasumi Tendo and Shampoo-kun

Tarou Tendo-17, dark haired son of Akane Tendo and Tarou?

Yurika Kuonji-17, dark blonde daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ai

Continuum #472193567("Purple Haired Destiny," inspired by Ryan Anderson,  
a parallel earth)

Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Shampoo Saotome and Ranma

Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Kuno and Tatewaki

Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion-born daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka

Atari Moroboshi -16, green haired daughter of Lum Moroboshi and Ataru

(Incidentally, Ryan's own projections were for the following)

(Rei Saotome/Kuonji-17, brown haired daughter of Ranma, Ukyo and Shampoo.)

Continuum #57821964("La Blue Ukyo," by Jim R. Bader)

Kama Sutra Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma

Tsuyori Saotome-17, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma

Sakura Kuonji-15, silver haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma

Shikari Tendo-16, purple haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Miko

Kyura Saotome -14, black haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Ranma

Kitten Saotome-17, cherry pink haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma

Shikari Mido-17, purple haired daughter of Akane and Miko

Koi Mido-16, indigo haired daughter of Miko Mido and Dan

Kimera Suzuka-14, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Dan

Shiromitsu Suzuka-16, silver haired son of Ukyo and Dan

Wulf Midori-17, green haired son of Yaku Midori and Ranma

Kurenai Mido-15, blue haired daughter of Yaku and Miko

Bukotei Mido-16, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Ranma

Thorn Saotome-16, green haired daughter of Kodachi and Yaku Midori

Rose Saotome-16, black haired daughter of Kodachi and Ranma

Price Tendo-15, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Tendo and Fubuki

Bonbori Tendo-15, purple haired daughter of Shampoo and Akane

Achika Hibiki-16, black haired daughter of Botsasu and Ryoga

Tsuyosa Hibiki-17, black haired son of Akane and Ryoga

Omake Tendo-17, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Ranmaru

Kashiko Tendo-15, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Fubuki

Tekase Suzuka-14, dark haired daughter of Botsasu and Ranmaru

Bracelet Saotome-14, indigo haired daughter of Shampoo and Ukyo

Tenshin Saotome-16, brown haired son of Fubuki and Ranma

Continuum #59343921("A Very Scary Thought," by Jim R. Bader)

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Shampoo Tendo and Nabiki

Ekko Daitokuji-17, redheaded daughter of Aiko Daitokuji and Beiko

Tenko Masaki-17, indigo haired daughter of Ryoko Misaki and Tenchi

Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Belldandy Morisato and Keiichi

Continuum #68743219 ("Black Rose, Blue Thunder," by Nicole Manders [aka Dreiser])

Candy Tendo -16, dark haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Chocolate Mousse

Champion Tendo -16, dark haired son of Akane Tendo and Chocolate Mousse

Watazashi Saotome -17, black haired daughter of Kodachi Saotome and Ranma

Tinkerbell Tendo -17, honey-blond haired fusion daughter of Kasumi Tendo and Perfume

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works.


	2. Chapter 2

RanSquare1

Ranma Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the Works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others)

Prologue.

Scandinavia: Early Iron Age

Hooded figures appeared outside the longhouse of an obvious nobleman, heavily swaddled in furred cloaks to keep out the harsh winter that threatened to turn marrow into ice. These figures hardly seemed to mind biting cold as the lead member of their group pounded upon the double doors of the longhouse. They waited patiently until the doors finally swung open and a warrior granted them admittance before turning to look over his shoulder and call out, "Father, they are here!"

"That is good," said a tall man with lanky blond hair as he rose from his place at the far end of the hall, "Bring them in, don't tarry about it boy." The tall man reached out to embrace the leader of the hooded strangers and said, "My old friend, it's so very good to see you!"

"Likewise," the other man replied, his face revealed from beneath his hood being of indeterminate age with a single good eye shining proudly from beneath a mane of dark blond hair, his face fully bearded while an ornate patch covered the spot where his other eye should have been.

"Was the trip very hard for you?" the first man asked, "I wish to apologize for the weather..."

"Not at all," the man with the eyepatch replied with a dismissive snort, "Compared to the storms we have back home this is hardly even a light snowfall. Let me introduce my sons, then we can get right down to business."

"One moment, please," the Lord of the Manor replied, clapping his hands twice and calling out, "Attend to your father, my children! Your father has an announcement that he wishes to make."

There was a flash of light, then several figures appeared standing about the tall blond man, all very beautiful in a way that was not entirely human. The lead of these girls turned to the blond man and said, "What is it, Father? Oh...we have guests!"

"That we do," the blond man turned to indicate the party in question, who were removing their cloaks to stand revealed as warriors in armor, "This is my good friend, Odin Highfather, King of the Aesir."

"And these are my sons," said Lord Odin, indicating the blond man to the warriors at his side, "Is my very good friend and ally, Njord of the Vanir. My blood-brother Njord and I have brought you all together to make a little announcement."

"What is that, Father?" asked a tall man with reddish hair and a robust build who wore blue-black scale mail with golden trim.

"In good time, my son," Odin turned to Njord and indicated the redhead, "My oldest boy, Thor, God of Thunder and known throughout the Nine Worlds as Giantsbane. My second youngest, Vidar the Strong, and over there is Baldar the Beautiful-God of Light, and over there is my adopted son, Loki, the God of Fire..."

"And what about me, Father?" asked a blonde haired woman on the edge of the setting.

"Oh yes," Odin hesitated, "And my oldest daughter, Brunhilda."

"Such strong looking boys you have," Njord nodded approvingly, turning to the redhead, "We, of course, have heard much told of your oldest boy. Is he the one you wish to have engaged?"

"Engaged?" alarm bells went off in the redheaded man's expression.

"Why yes," Njord smiled, "To seal the pact between our two houses. After your father married my cousin, Frigga, it was decided that we would marry a son of one house to the daughter of the other. Come, examine my beautiful daughters. This is Idunna, my oldest and the keeper of my orchards. Next to her is Freya, my middle child and patron of love, beauty, poetry and cats..."

"Oh my," said Idunna as she bowed, "It is a great honor to meet you."

"Charmed," said a beautiful redheaded girl with a slightly cynical expression.

"Cats?" the redheaded giant said with alarm, but his father glared at him so he quickly desisted.

"And there is my youngest daughter, Sif, the patron of the Hunt and Lunar Cycle," Njord concluded.

"Wait a second!" said the last of these three girls, a blonde beauty who wore a sword at her side in total contrast to the others, "You want one of us to marry him? No way!"

"But it's perfect," her father insisted, "The two of you would bring the houses of Asgard and Vanaheim together..."

"No way!" Sif cried.

"It's not going to happen," Thor insisted.

"You see?" Sif asked, then blinked, "And why not?"

"This isn't a proper Viking marriage, father," Thor told Odin, "I'm supposed to choose my bride by carrying her off in a raid, not trading her off like one of the goats for my chariot."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sif asked, "Are you comparing me to a goat?"

"What?" Thor blinked, "No, I meant..."

"What he meant was that he is blinded by your beauty and is overwhelmed that he has the choice of such beautiful maidens to pick for his wife," Odin hastily said, "Isn't that right my boy?"

"Hey, just a season, father," Vidar spoke up, "Thor's not the only one of us who would like to find a wife you know."

"That's right," Baldar agreed, "Perhaps one of us could just as easily forge the pact between our two peoples."

"Perhaps we should make a contest of it," Loki mused, "The fair maidens might think more highly of us were we to demonstrate our best qualities, which in the case of Thor and Vidar would be their warrior prowess, or in Baldar's his skills as a bard and a healer..."

"And what is your best quality?" Freya asked with a speculative expression.

"Why, I have all the brains in my family," Loki smiled, "My ancestors were Frost Giants, clever in magic and wise in the ways of sorcery and sage counsel..."

"More like your acid tongue is sharper than the winter's bite," Thor replied, "No warrior you, just a fey manipulator of men's minds, you crafty schemer."

"So you see, there is a choice about which of us should get married..." Vidar tried to sound persuasive.

"Silence!" Odin said with a sharp gesture, "It has been decided, Thor is the oldest, he deserves to marry first. You'll all get your chances at marriage in good time, my sons, and the rest of your brothers when it comes their time as well..."

"Other brothers?" Sif asked.

"I have Nine Sons in all," Odin replied, "I would have brought Heimdall, but he had Bridge duty. The other four...well, no need to make this really complicated."

"So what will it be, my boy?" Njord asked, "Which of my lovely daughters would you like to be your blushing bride? Shall it be Idunna, my oldest? Or Freya, my lovely child of radiant beauty, or Sif, my energetic child of night? Girls?"

"I don't know, father," Idunna replied, "He's strong and handsome, and certainly quite brave, but is he mature enough for me? He seems to be so...young in his behavior."

"Who cares?" Freya asked, "He's got muscles and that's good enough for me. Not too much upstairs from what I can tell..."

"And why would one so fair desire to limit herself to this lunk?" Loki asked with an insinuating smile, "When you could have your pick of the hallowed halls of Asgard?"

"Hmm," Freya seemed to consider the point as she gave the Fire God a patented calculating smile, "Then I guess it's up to Sif then."

"What?" Sif cried, "Why me?"

"Because you're the Shield Maiden of our household," Idunna smiled, "And Thor looks as if he could use a strong arm to watch his backside."

"Now just hold on here!" Thor protested, "I didn't ask for this, and I certainly didn't ask to be wed to some Vanir Valkyrie just to seal a treaty..."

"What did you just call me?" Sif cried in outrage.

"A Valkyrie is a Chooser of the Slain," explained Brunhilda, "My idiot brother just compared you to me and my sisters..."

"THOR IS AN IDIOT!" cried Sif as she raised her hand in anger, and suddenly it was filled by an enormous war-hammer as she leaped at the astonished Thundergod and brought it down with a resounding, "THUD!"

Into the ensuing silence Odin turned to regard his prone son and said, "That he had coming!"

"That weapon..." Vidar said in amazement.

"I have never seen its like before," said Baldar.

"And such speed with which the beauteous Sif smote our arrogant brother," Loki mused, "It fairly struck him like a clap of thunder."

"You mean Mjolnir?" Njord asked, "It was a gift to our house by the Dwarves as a Naming gift for Sif when she was nine days born. It is said to make its wielder invincible in battle..."

"It sure was with Thor," Brunhilda remarked, then smiled at Sif and said, "Nicely done. I've wanted to do that myself for centuries."

"It can be yours as a wedding gift," Njord continued, "And in time your children will inherit their own Hammers for generations unending to come. It is a legacy of the Dwarves that will come with marriage to my lovely-if violent-  
daughter..."

"Ohhh," Thor groaned as he started to push himself upright, "What hit me?"

"True love, brother dear," Loki replied with a grin.

"I could not have said it better myself," agreed Baldar.

"You two will make a wonderful couple," Vidar said unanimously.

"You've got to teach me how you do that trick," grinned Brunhilda as she added the word, "Sister."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Thor protested, "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Who cares what you say now, my boy?" Odin asked with a smile, "All I care is that you give me strong grandsons, and the sooner the better."

"I don't believe this!" Sif cried out, "You actually want me to marry this arrogant goatherd?"

Thor clutched his aching head and groaned to himself, "I have a very bad feeling about this..." then he groaned again, realizing the literal truth of his own statement...

Chapter One.

Reflections

"Ranma no baka!" Akane screamed as she plunged the knife into her husband's chest, pulling it out only to thrust it home again while Ranma gasped out his surprise and fell backwards, blood spurting from the wounds already inflicted.

Akane did not stop her attack but fell on top of him plunging the knife in again and again like a wild animal completely bereft of all sense of reason. She only stopped when a scream cut the air, causing her to lift her head and turn around, finding her two older sisters standing within the doorway leading from the kitchen to the dining area.

"Akane?" Kasumi gasped, "What in the name of the Heavens are you doing?"

Akane staggered to her feet, madness still in her eyes as she regarded the two women standing before her. A cruel smile was on her lips as her eyes fell upon Nabiki, who was staring back at her like a deer caught in the headlights. Akane crossed the distance between them in two strides, the bloody knife slashing the air in an arc, and suddenly Nabiki staggered away clutching at her throat as blood began to spray between her fingers. Akane did not pause as she continued her rush, bringing the knife up again to stab downward at the unprotected breast of her oldest sisters. Kasumi did not make a move to block or avoid the blade as it struck home above her breastbone. Kasumi only managed to utter one word: "Why?" before she, too, tumbled backwards from the impact.

Akane savagely tore the knife loose as she screamed in both of their faces, "BECAUSE YOU MADE ME DO IT! YOU MADE ME MARRY HIM! I HATE YOU-I HATE YOU-I HATE YOU!"

"AKANE!"

The sound of her father's voice stopped her in the act of repeatedly stabbing both of the corpses. She looked up in surprise, shocked from her berserk state by the very sound of his hurt, disapproving tones. Akane looked numbly up at him, then felt the wetness on her cheeks, saw blood fountaining from the floor, looked down at her own handiwork...and screamed!

And as she screamed the child named Ranko screamed, and as little five-year-old Ranko screamed so did a sixteen year old Ranko, who had stood by watching the whole thing take place as if it were happening in a movie rather than in real life in full three-dimensional color.

The difference was that-as Ranko screamed-her hands went up to her head and she suddenly felt pain between her eyes. The mother of all headaches caused her to double over and as she willed the whole thing away, then suddenly found herself curled up on her own bed, sobbing tears as she hugged herself and fought the blazing images that were searing her mind.

It took several moments for her to realize where she was, and then she let go of her lock-grip upon her knees, uncurled herself and sat upright in bed, looking around her room in momentary confusion.

"How-how did I get back..." she blinked her eyes then said, "And where was I just now? I-I can't remember..."

She slung her legs over the bed and started to count slowly in her mind the seconds it took for her head to stop pounding. When the sensation had passed she straightened out and said, "It didn't work. I wanted to go somewhere, but it didn't work..."

She reached down and picked up the amulet that she carried by a silver chain around her neck, looking at it for a moment before frowning, "Stupid pendant...I told you I wanted to go back in time and see what happened to my parents..."

The pendant began to gleam from within as if in answer to her thoughts, then it fell silent again, baffling her by its contradictory responses.

"You want to tell me something...is that it?" Ranko asked, then almost jumped when the jewel gleamed at her for a moment, "You understand what I'm saying? You really are intelligent, aren't you?"

Again the amulet pulsed as if in reply. Ranko nodded in faint understanding and said, "One beat for yes, two for no, is that right?"

The amulet pulsed once then remained still as if awaiting her next question.

"I see," Ranko said, "So you do want me to understand you. Too bad you can't talk..."

[This depends] a voice said in her mind, [Upon the nature of the question.]

Ranko let go of the pendant and blinked, "You talked!"

[In a manner of speaking.]

"Well then...why didn't you do what I asked when I wanted you to show me what happened to my parents?"

[This artifact did as you requested] the odd neck ornament replied, [And then you wished to return to your own present, so this one complied with your instructions].

"No you didn't!" Ranko insisted, "I would have remembered if you had taken me to the past!"

[This statement is erroneous] the pendant replied, [You do not remember because there is a blockage in your mind preventing you from remembering or thinking about what you saw].

"No way!" Ranko cried, then paused, "I couldn't have forgotten..." she paused again, aware of a disturbing black space in her memories, "Why don't I remember?"

[Query suggests that blockage was placed in you deliberately to keep you from reliving the events just witnessed.]

"Oh yeah?" Ranko frowned, "Then take me back and show me the whole thing all over! I wanna see what happened this time and I won't let anything cause me to forget it!"

[This might not be prudent,] the voice said, [More probable outcome will be to re-forget the incident in question...]

"Don't argue with me, just do it!" Ranko stubbornly ordered , then winced as she felt reality invert once again, only to find herself standing in the kitchen of her house reliving the events that she had twice now witnessed.

There was the man whom Ranko identified as her father standing next to her mother, Saotome Akane. They were arguing over something while the two were washing the dishes together when all of a sudden her mother cried, "What do you mean I cook better now than I used to?"

"Well, it's the truth," her father replied, "At least your food ain't toxic like it used to be, in fact some of it's even edible by standards."

"Ranma...!" her mother growled in dangerous warning.

"Ah come on, Akane," Ranma smiled at her, "Don't you know I'm just having fun with you. So what if you're not like Kasumi, that isn't why I married you. I don't need no domestic servant to do my beck and call, and you don't really wanna be like that anyway."

"Well," Akane began to relax a little, "Maybe I don't have her domestic talents, but I really wish I could be more like Kasumi. She works so hard to keep our family together, and one day when we have a house of our own to live in..."

"What do you mean a house of our own?" Ranma asked, "Kasumi's married to Doctor Tofu now and she only stops by to pay us a visit and see that your Dad's taken care of."

"Maybe so," Akane said with curious reluctance, "Do you think maybe it's because she doesn't have enough faith in me being able to keep house on my own? I mean, you help out and all, but..."

"Hey, it's my job to help you out," Ranma pointed out, "You're doing all the work as it is having our baby, giving little Ranko a playmate to grow up with. It's not like I want you straining yourself over junk that I can handle for myself..."

"I don't get it," Akane scowled, "You're really a boy, you only become a girl sometimes because of magic. Why is it you've got more domestic talent than me?"

"I guess because maybe you've got that brute strength," Ranma said, "It's what you're good at. You've even improved at martial arts, and maybe some day you'll even be a good as me."

Akane frowned, "Do you have to always rub my nose in that? Just because you're better at me in some things is no reason that you should brag."

"Who's bragging?" Ranma asked, "We're all good at something, Akane, I'm sure some day you'll find out what you're really good at, then you can rub my nose in it and I'll even let you."

"You'll let me?" Akane glowered, "Who do you think you are?"

"Huh?" Ranma noticed the shift in his wife's tone and looked at Akane in confusion.

"You're so much better than me at martial arts and cooking and keeping house..." Akane seemed close to the point of tears, "It's just not fair! I work hard, I really do, and I'm a good person, I never ask for all that much, so why am I so clumsy and worthless?"

Ranma blinked, "You're not worthless, Akane. What put that idea in your head?"

"Oh, so now you think I'm crazy!"

"No-that's not it!" Ranma protested, "Why are you always twisting everything around to make it sound like I'm trying to hurt you? I just wanted to make a little compliment..."

"A compliment?!" Akane all but shrieked, "When did you ever give me a compliment? You're such a selfish jerk! You never think about anyone but yourself! You're lazy and rude and basically good for nothing but beating people up!"

"Hey!" Ranma tried and failed to get a word in edgewise.

"I don't know why I ever put up with you...I don't know how I could ever even marry you!" Akane fumed, "You never think about anyone but yourself! You're always mean to me, you even make fun of me now that I've gotten fat taking care of your baby!"

"Hey, I wouldn't..." Ranma started to protest.

"Shut up!" Akane snarled, "You don't care about me! You've never cared about me! All I am is a big inconvenience to you! Why didn't you at least marry Ukyo or Shampoo? They would have taken you off my hands! But no, you've got to hang around and ruin my life!"

"Akane..."

She turned away rather than meet his expression, sinking her hands into the hot, soapy water in search of any dishes she might have missed finding. Almost by chance her hand found the butchers knife laying on the bottom, and once her mind knew what it was she closed her fist around the handle, baring her teeth as the anger swelled up in her like a thing alive, all the years of heartache and constant aggravation enflamed by the hormonal imbalance caused by her pregnancy, overwhelming what little self-control she had over her temper.

She acted on pure impulse, not thinking about what she was doing as she turned around with the knife and slashed out at him without warning. It was so completely unexpected, and Ranma's defenses were so far down that he never even saw it coming as the knife flashed towards his belly with Akane snarling the words, "I HATE YOU-!"

"STOP!" Ranko screamed, "Mother, father-don't...do it...?"

Ranko blinked her eyes, for everything had stopped in mid-motion. There was her mother poised with the knife in her hand, a very ugly snarl pasted upon her features making her seem distorted and inhuman, while Ranma was staring with slowly dawning comprehension in his eyes. The knife was poised only a few inches from his chest with not enough time for him to dodge or deflect the attack, his body posture conveying his complete lack of readiness to be attacked by a loved one.

They were like statues held in place by a force beyond comprehension, and as Ranko looked further she took notice of the fact that a stream of soap and water bubbles extending from the sink to the knife were also hanging in mid-air as if in total defiance of the pull of gravity. Ranko approached with curiosity and touched one of these bubbles, finding it as hard as glass and cold to the touch.

All of a sudden an electric shock went through her then swept out to touch everything else in the room, and suddenly Akane was plunging forward with the knife again, sinking it into Ranma's chest as his eyes went wide with instant comprehension.

"Stop!" Ranko called again, and once more the action froze with the knife buried several inches into her father's torso. Despite the horror of the scene Ranko found herself intrigued by her sudden power to freeze time and decided to try a little experiment. Acting on the hunch that this might be like a HDTV digital play device she called out, "Reverse!" to see what would happen.

To her amazement everything did begin to reverse directions as Akane pulled the knife out from her husband and returned to the sink as if nothing else had happened. Ranko saw their lips move as nonsense words came out then called out again, "Stop!" and was gratified to see that everything was back to normal.

"How am I doing this?" she said aloud.

[This unit is the key to controlling the direction of time,] came the voice inside her head, [Time is the medium of this unit, and through this unit flow the currents of reality itself. This unit does not make reality, but through this unit you can influence the course of events and cause changes to occur along the probability lines of what might happen.]

"Can I change the past?" Ranko asked, now fully intrigued.

[Your own past is inalterable,] the voice replied, [It is not within the nature of this unit to alter the fundamental nature of reality, which prohibits a thing from affecting its own evolution. However you can alter the probability lines for this event to choose a different outcome. It would effectively render the reality you know as Virtual while manifesting a different line of probabilities so that a new reality would take its place in the Timefield.]

"All right, how do I do it?" Ranko asked.

[Physical interaction with your past can be rendered along the Virtual lines by influencing the probability of...]

"Just tell me in plain Japanese, will you?"

[You may step into the field as a phantom force invisible to anyone of this time but able to affect by touch for a limited duration...]

"All right," Ranko nodded, "Then let's do it. Unfreeze them."

Events began to flow the way they had before, only now Ranko was prepared to act at the moment that her mother began to tense up for her homicidal outburst. Whereas Ranko had found her hands had passed through her mother the last time she had tried to prevent this, now she put all of her will into grasping her mother from behind at the very moment when Akane had whirled to stab at her husband.

To Akane if felt as if invisible hands had seized her and frozen her in mid-  
motion. She fought against this resistance and snarled, "Let me go! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!"

"Akane?" Ranma started to overcome his surprise and reacted like a trained martial-artist, catching Akane by the wrists as Ranko let her mother go, then a struggle ensued in which his greater strength prevailed as Ranma gently but firmly pried the knife out of his wife's fingers.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Akane kept snarling, "I'll kill you, I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Akane!" Ranma snatched her up into his arms and held her tightly until the anger subsided and the rage drained out of her narrow frame, to be replaced by wracking sobs a few moments later as Akane began to come back to herself and regained an awareness of her own actions and surroundings.

By this time Nabiki and Kasumi had rushed into the kitchen to investigate, now they both stood to one side looking on in confusion as Akane began sobbing out, "Oh Ranma! Ranma! I'm so sorry! I might have killed you!"

"Naw," her husband said as he patted her shoulders and spoke soothingly, "You never would have gotten close if you had tried. Besides, you really didn't mean to hurt me...that was just reflex, right? I'm the one who should be sorry for acting like such a jerk and mouthing off at you when you're trying so hard to be like your mother."

"Oh Ranma..." Akane sobbed as they both sank to the floor hugging each other, while Ranko looked down at them and felt something in her mind move around slightly, which momentarily confused her.

"Oh my," Kasumi said as she saw the butcher knife laying on the floor, "Akane...did something bad just happen?"

"Looks to me like we should have listened to Doctor Tofu," Nabiki said as she reached down and picked the wicked looking blade up by two fingers, holding it as one might a rabid animal, "He warned us that something like this could happen."

"What are you saying?" Ranma asked.

"Face facts, Saotome," Nabiki said, "Akane's becoming a lot harder to control of late, and Tofu Sensei thinks she may be suffering from a neurological disorder. She blows up over little things these days, and even when you're trying to be nice with her she often flies into these violent rages. I used to think she was bad tempered in the old days," Nabiki shook her head, "Now I'm actually missing those times. You need help, Sis, and if you don't do something about it soon, then I will."

"Nabiki's right, Akane," Kasumi joined in, "You have been having problems lately. Perhaps it's time Ono-chan takes you to that clinic that we talked about, the one that specializes in violent rage disorder. I think they can help you to get better."

"Whatever," Ranma said, looking at his wife as he framed her face with his strong hands, "It's up to you, Akane-chan. I won't let anybody force you into doing this, but if they can help you through this problem, then you'll know I'll be right there to back you up all the way."

Akane looked at him through tear-stained eyes and said, "I could have killed you right now...I could have...all right. I'll do whatever they ask. I want to get over this...I need help...please...help me..."

Ranko watched her parents hug each other and talk like this for several minutes, then saw a younger version of herself walk in with a questioning expression. Akane reached out to her daughter and hugged her the four-year-old girl close to her bosom as Ranma hugged the both of them. It was all so wonderful...and yet there was that throbbing behind her temples once again, and Ranko began to have difficulty concentrating.

"I guess I've seen enough," she sighed, "Take me back to my room, please." And with that reality once again inverted...

Ranko flopped back on her bed rubbing her temples as the throbbing slowly ebbed away. She could remember it all clearly now, the pain of her childhood, seeing her mother slash both of her aunts, then sob with blood all over herself as she cried hysterically over what she had done, then tried to use the knife to end her own life.

Grown ups had come into the room to look after her, but Ranko had gone catatonic with emotional withdrawal. The horrifying images replayed themselves in her mind over and over like an unending nightmare. It seemed as if the world itself dissolved until her Uncle Tofu had finished discussing something with her grandfather and grandmother, then Tofu did something to her hair and the memories went away, along with most of the pain, allowing Ranko to grow up fairly normal, if distraught and defensive, throughout most of the rest of her childhood.

They had taken her memories away and erected some kind of a block that had prevented her from remembering what had happened. They told her pleasant lies about her parents dying in a heroic quest so that she wouldn't have to wonder what had happened, and then her great-great-grandfather had come into her life and started teaching her martial arts to add onto the basic training exercises that her parents had started her out on as soon as she could crawl.

It had paid off as Ranko was now the toughest girl in her school, kilometers above even the nearest competitor who had ever dared try to spar with her. She could even whip the tar our of anybody who showed up at the dojo to challenge the Anything Goes school for supremacy in the arts, but nothing in her life had really seemed to matter all that much. She was the girl without parents at her school, the strange one most people avoided and few boys had the nerve to even approach. She was a solitary loner, and until this moment that was exactly how she wanted to live her life.

Only now she was starting to wonder if it was such a great thing being her. What good was it to be the best at martial arts when the rest of your life was so lousy? It was all very frustrating, and it began the day a bunch of kids claiming to be relatives had shown up out of no where and revealed what life could have been like if everything had turned out different.

"Ranko-chan! Are you upstairs? Your mother wants you to wash up and come down for dinner!"

Ranko opened one eyelid, glad she was no longer being bothered by the headaches. That was the sound of her Aunt Kodachi, which meant that she was visiting again, something that always brought joy and light to her otherwise bleak existence. Ranko smiled and rolled off of the bed, heading for the door to her room when she froze in mid motion.

Her mother wanted her to come down and eat dinner?

She threw the door open and vaulted the stairs in a few quick leaps, rushing into the dining room area just in time to find herself facing the Japanese equivalent of a Normal Rockwell painting.

"Wow! That was sure fast!" said an older Ranma Saotome, "You must really be hungry, Sport. I don't remember the last time anyone was in that much of a hurry to eat your mother's cooking."

"Oh you," sniffed Akane Saotome as she threw a mock-pout in her husband's direction while she was laying down a big bowl of pasta, then she turned to Ranko and said, "Did you wash your hands like I asked? I won't have you eating with your fingers like a barbarian, you know. You already take too much after your father."

"Can I have more noodles, Aunt Kodachi?" said a black haired girl several years younger than Ranko whom she had never laid eyes upon until that moment.

"That depends on if you've been a good little girl, which means you should ask your mother," said Kodachi herself before turning to a dark haired little boy at her side, "Just look at my sweet little Godai and how well mannered he behaves, a worthy heir to a long line of Samurai before him, isn't that right, my precious little Go-chan?"

Akane turned an amused glance over her shoulder and said, "Are you two going to sit out there and play Shogi all night? I thought you'd at least be hungry, Dad, Saotome-san."

"We're coming," called a voice that Ranko identified as belonging to her grandfather, and sure enough she could see him sitting there playing a board game with a giant panda.

"Here you are everybody," said Nodoka as she came out of the kitchen with a tray that smelled deliciously of teriyaki meats with vegetables and bean shoots, "The main course compliments of the Lady of the House."

"Aunt Nodoka," Akane blushed, then smiled as she saw the eager, hungry stares of everyone at the table who actually seemed to be looking forward to eating her cooking.

"Uh...I'll be right back," Ranko said as she left the dining room area and headed for the nearest bathroom. The experience was all too weird for her to handle and she needed a few moments to get her bearings straight. There were too many surprises in this world, and she knew implicitly that it was not her world that she had returned to.

Once alone she took a few moments regathering her breath then said, "What the heck was that all about?" She held up the pendant and said, "I thought you were going to take me back to my home?"

[These are the coordinates you requested,] the voice replied, [Your history has been altered and the world you know has been replaced by the current manifestation that you have just experienced. There are a few basic differences of course...]

"Differences?" Ranko snorted, "I'll say there are! My family's back together and there's obviously another version of me running around here who knows what's going on, which I sure don't! Who were those kids sitting next to my Aunt Kodachi?"

[The older one is your sister, Meiko, who is chronologically eleven years of age. The boy is one Godai , the only son of Kuno Kodachi and her husband, Shinnosuke...]

"Aunt Kodachi got married?" Ranko said in momentary delight, "All right! I always thought she could make a good mother..."

"TADAIMA!" a voice cried from the front of the house, sounding a disturbing lot like Ranko's own voice, "Am I too late or did you guys save me something of dinner?"

"Oh crap," Ranko murmured, "I'll bet that's the other me just come back home..."

"I was over visiting with Cousin Tachi," she heard the other her voice say from down the hall, "What do you mean I was in the bathroom? I just got home!"

Ranko turned back to the pendant and said, "Get me back to my world, quick!"

[But...] the disembodied voice tried to warn her.

"I don't care about the particulars, just take me there right...!"

The door to the bathroom flew open and there indeed was another Ranko glaring at her with an angry, "Who are you...and why do you look just like me?"

"...Now?" Ranko swallowed, then sighed with relief as a familiar blue glow surrounded her and this world itself faded out of her vision.

"Mou," Ranko exclaimed, hoping her mother or Aunt Nodoka didn't hear her cussing, "What the heck was that? I'll bet Gramps is pulling another one of his gags. That old guy is nothing but trouble..."

Ranko's relief was short lived as she found herself back in the bathroom, only now the house seemed unnaturally quiet. She took a moment to regather her bearings then said, "What the heck did you mean by telling me that was my house? Did I change the past or didn't I?"

[As this unit was starting to explain to you,] the pendant replied with what-in a human-might have sounded like remarkable patience, [That world was the manifestation of the reality you brought into effect by your action. The world you came from is now a Virtual shadow with everything in a dormant phase of existence...]

"Dormant phase of existence?" Ranko repeated with a questioning expression.

[You cannot alter the past, nor can you create what never existed,] the pendant replied like a patient instructor, [But reality is infinite in all directions and what has the potential to existed already exists as a potential. All realities exist in potential form until they are manifested, and obviously only a few manifest realities can exist at any one time, so to shift the balance from Unmanifest to Manifest one has to direct the flow of probabilities along a given line...]

"Could you just make it simple for me to understand," Ranko looked around, "Like where am I now? It looks like my house, but everything is kind of grey looking..."

[This is Virtual Space,] the pendant answered, [This is what has become of your world now that you have altered the timeline. This unit is making it comprehensible for you so that you may properly access the world you came from. We are in near-synchronicity, so you can move about but not touch or affect this reality, which is itself static.]

"Virtual reality?" Ranko said, "Like in a Computer game?"

[More like another level of existence outside of normal space and time,] the pendant replied, [Outside the limits of what you know to be Reality, a Virtual world that is not manifested but has the potential for existence...]

"And this is what I've done to my world?" Ranko sounded appalled, "All because I had to go and change the past for my reality?"

[Correct.]

Ranko paused before she asked, "And this is also where Grampa and Grandmother Nodoka are...the ones I know? And my Aunt Kodachi?"

[Correct.]

Ranko hesitated before asking the next question, "And what will happen to them if they stay in this place?"

[Nothing. No action can be given, though probability lines still exist for this dimension. In linear terms, should events remain as they were given, then in the span of a year your Grandfather will expire in his sleep, leaving the dojo in your trust, while your Grandmother will continue to tend the gardens of her house until she, too, perishes in another five years time.]

"That's so sad," Ranko said, "Whatever happened to her husband? Was he even alive in that other reality?"

[You saw him,] the pendant replied, [He was that Panda bear playing chess with your grandfather.]

"You mean he had a Jusenkyo curse too?" Ranko said in amazement, "What did he die of?"

[Your paternal grandfather had signed a pact with your grandmother promising to take his own life should their son not grow up to become the man among men that was promised. The vow was fulfilled when your father died at the hands of your mother. Saotome Genma took his own life with his wife acting as second and his ashes were scattered over the garden that she continues to tend to this very day...]

"That's gross!" Ranko exclaimed, "Seppuku is so...Medieval! Like, how could she do that to her own husband?"

[The pact had been an agreement by which Nodoka maintained control over her husband, although the plan did not work exactly as intended. When Genma saw the death of his son and heir he gave up on life and surrendered to her insistence that he honor his vow. This is the reality you changed, however, so events did not proceed that way in the reality that replaced it.]

"I see," Ranko said softly, looking around a final time before she added, "All right, I've seen enough. Take me someplace else."

[Specify coordinates you desire.]

Ranko thought a moment then faintly smiled to herself before saying, "I want to visit the world where Kodachi married my father. Take me to see Saotome Watazashi..."

Reality altered around her, becoming colorful again with form and movement...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Continuities Unlimited: shadowmane

A new series begins with Ranko at the center, but as she travels through time and space will the course of her destiny be positive or climactic? Tune in again as Ranko explores the worlds that "Might Have Been," while unknown to her a pair of time agents will be making their fateful return...be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	3. Chapter 3

RanSquare2

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the characters/situations created by Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others)

Chapter Two.

Continuum #29457180

Watazashi waved a fond farewell to several of her friends before heading out towards the gymnasium to get some extra practice time down in preparation for an upcoming challenge match against "those swine of Kolhotz High," as she affectionately liked to call the team lead by her arch-rival, Mirai Senzenin. Being the pride of Saint Hebereke's Gymnastics team (her mother's old Alma Matter) she took serious any challenge match, regardless of how trivial, so though rated the top athlete of her generation she never allowed herself the luxury of becoming too over-confident or self-complacent.

For she was Saotome Watazashi, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, a legacy that she was compelled to uphold, having been drilled from infancy by her loving father in the importance of always staying at the top of her edge. She had few peers and no equals in the arts of combat among her generation of tried and tested combatants, so in spite of recent events (where she had for the first time encountered other worthy heirs to the Saotome tradition) she was confident in her abilities, poised and dedicated to staying at the peak of her form no matter what other distractions might occupy her interests.

So it was with something of a surprise that a figure stepped out from concealment of the bushes to momentarily obstruct her path, a very familiar face who so strongly resembled another that she was momentarily confused enough to ask, "Father?"

"Guess again," the figure nodded towards her, then indicated the pendant that was dangling from her neck, "Ohiyo, Watazashi-san."

Watazashi prided herself for being quick on the uptake, so there was only a momentary pause before she hesitantly asked, "Ranko?"

"It's me all right," Ranko answered softly, "I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time...but do you think you got a moment?"

Watazashi noticed the pensive look in the other girl's eyes and was sufficiently intrigued by her demeanor to nod once in acknowledgement, then waved a hand towards a nearby bench and said, "Why not step into my office and we can talk, if that's what you feel like doing."

"Yeah," Ranko said gruffly, "Sure," and so the two of them sat down on the bench once again, sharing a moment almost befitting of cross-parallel time siblings...

The Virtual Reality Nexus: Limbo.

"What a mess," Ranma noted gruffly as he studied the recent handiwork of his almost-daughter.

"Once again, Saotome," Nabiki remarked sarcastically, "Your masterful gift for understatement comes to the fore. This is definitely Ranko's doing, and when Derrick hears about this he's going to somewhat less than thrilled, I can assure you."

"Heh," Ranma snorted gruffly as he and his iinazuke studied the grayish landscape that in other realities would have been the familiar sight of the Tendo dojo family garden, now frozen like a freeze-framed Animation cell that had been washed of normal colors. Almost experimentally he reached out to touch a wooden post, then closed his fist on it momentarily, only to have a chunk break away, shattering into crystal shards of broken potential.

"Try not to break anything," Nabiki chided the man whom she loved more than life itself, "This is, after all, still a Virtual setting and it has the potential to remanifest itself should the cross-time currents access these coordinate settings."

"Yeah right," Ranma sniffed, "Like that'll happen now that the gem thingie canceled out the events that were supposed to cause this to happen in the first place. You ask me this reality can stay frozen for all I care...it's just full of unhappy memories of stuff that should never have happened in the first place."

"I'm not arguing that it was a bad reality for the both of us," Nabiki said somberly, "But there are other people in this world whose lives were also affected because of Ranko's actions. She may have saved our family but she doomed the rest of them to obscurity since the events in their lives will now take a different course. The effect will be gradual, but eventually the larger Cosmos will absorb the probability currents and weave them into the larger pattern. The problem is if this sort of thing happens at other points in the reality curve...done enough times it might even cause some serious problems."

"How serious are we talking about here?" Ranma asked.

"I don't really know just yet," Nabiki considered her hand-held portable scanner, "I'll need to run some tests, check with the Central relays, maybe get Sayuri to run a few probability calculations in the Virtual Net, but offhand I'd say we could be facing Time Quakes, Random Probability Shifts, Temporal Hurricanes, maybe even some weirder stuff we've never even encountered before. At the extreme end we could be talking major calamity, real "End of the World" stuff, such as when those two bracelets shifted Akane and Shampoo into that alternate dimension."

"That bad, huh?" Ranma considered the point while stroking his chin in a thoughtful manner, "Guess that means we've gotta catch up with Ranko and make her realize the danger she could be flirting with. I'm a little concerned about the effect this'll have on her, having her home reality get stuck in a backup reality download."

"I suspect the pendant may be insulating her from the Probability Paradox caused by her own actions," Nabiki considered the point more carefully, "That hunk of junk jewelry is turning out to be more trouble than I initially suspected. The amount of power it takes to totally lock up an entire frame like this...it's pretty enormous. I'm not even sure I want to know what other things it might be capable of doing, seeing how it fairly easily plane-shifted a bus-load of kids from multiple alternate realities without even having to be in their immediate presence."

"That does sound a bit on the extreme edge, huh?" Ranma frowned, "You think maybe it could be like the Nanban mirror? That had the power to easily shift a bunch of people from your house to Joketsuzoku, China, when Cologne was still flirting with the pervert."

"I don't know," Nabiki considered, "There could be a connection. The Nanban worked on emotional energy, since a single tear could trigger it, and this pendant acted like it was intelligent, so they might work on similar principles. Amazon artifacts tend to have a lot of power wrapped into them, as we both have occasion to know. When we get the pendant back I'm definitely running tests to see if it has the same resonance pattern as the Nanban."

"Of course it would have helped us a lot if you hadn't broken the real thing on our timeline," Ranma casually noted, enjoying the slight wince this caused to his lovely companion.

"Sure, rub my nose in it why don't you?" she sniffed, "A fabulous Amazon treasure that could have given me the power to travel anywhere and anywhen I liked and I had to go and step on it without thinking. When I think of the fortune I could have made with the thing..."

"As opposed to the fortune you've made by other means?" Ranma continued teasing.

"Don't get pert with me, Saotome," Nabiki eyed him sternly, but the effect was spoiled by the leer on her lips, "You may be cute and built like a brick but I still know how to hit you where it hurts..."

"Oh, scare me why doncha?" Ranma grinned back, "Beat me, whip me, make me write bad checks..."

"Don't give me any ideas," she looked away to hide her own infectious grin, "First thing we get done with this mission I'm taking you to the altar and you're going to make me an honest woman."

"Oooh, scary," he mimicked panic, "I thought you were the Miracle Worker on this team. The best I could do for you would be to give you my good name so our kids can grow up Saotomes."

"What do you mean Saotome?" she countered with an arched eyebrow, "I was going to have you change your name to Tendo."

"And spoil your favorite insult?" Ranma feigned an innocent expression, "Wouldn't have the same effect if you started calling me a Tendo."

"Hmm...a good point that," Nabiki stroked her chin, "Why don't I get back to you on that for later, Ranma-kun? Right now we got a wayward Niece of mine who needs cornering for her own sake."

"Right," Ranma paused and asked, "Nabiki...you said that pendant is protecting her from the Paradox effect. What happens to her if she removes it?"

Nabiki thought a moment before she said, "I don't know, Saotome. Maybe we'd better get her back to central first before we test that theory out."

"She's my kid, Nabiki," Ranma said soberly, "As near to one as I've ever come close to having. I won't let anything bad happen to her, and I'll do whatever it takes to see she doesn't wind up like this place."

Nabiki noted the firm and quiet declaration from the man beside her, knowing full well that Ranma never made any promises unless he was willing to back it up with complete and absolute conviction. Taking into account that he was arguably the most dangerous thing on two legs that she had ever encountered, Nabiki knew full well that this might involve a great deal of destruction and mayhem, which in a way was comforting as it matched her own resolve in this matter.

"I know, Ranma-kun," she said, touching his arm in a way that caused them both to share a soft and sober moment when the universe around them faded away and only they two were left in the spotlight, "And I promise you that I won't let anything bad happen to her either. She may be your almost-daughter but she's my almost-niece, and that makes her family, regardless of the circumstances."

"Just so we have that straight," Ranma reached out to cup her chin, an act that he had wanted to do so many times in the past yet always hesitated...until now. On a whim he quirked another smile at her and added, "Almost wife."

"No almost about it," she growled, squeezing his hand, "You are definitely taking me to the altar this time, Mister, and I don't care how many Tarous, Herbs or Saffrons we have to go through to do it."

"Yes Ma'am," Ranma answered obediently, and with a straight face, as the two of them faded out from the gray setting, merging back with the timestream as they sought out the cause of their recent dilemmas...

Continuum #29457180

Ranko felt incredibly nervous sitting next to a girl who reminded her of a younger version of her much-beloved Aunt Kodachi, though in a way it was also a very nice feeling, like the fulfillment of a dream she had long entertained of thinking what life might be like if she and her aunt had been the same age and were able to share things like regular teenagers.

"I see," Watazashi mused after Ranko concluded her story, "It seems as if your first solo foray with yon gem had an unexpected bonus for you. I can understand that it must have been awkward discovering the changes your family had undergone as a consequence to this..."

"You think?" Ranko said, almost shyly, "It's like my whole life turns out to have been a lie, only none of that awful stuff happened, and my folks were alive again and happy. It was like a dream world in which I was just a normal teenager with normal family troubles..."

"Only you were still a Saotome," Watazashi smiled with some irony, "And we are anything but normal."

"I guess," Ranko could not help feeling disturbed at both the similarities and differences between this girl and her Aunt Kodachi. Little mannerisms and their manner of speech was strikingly similar, but this girl lacked the bittersweet air of tragedy and loss that had always shadowed the black rose. This girl was a lot like her in many ways, having the same air of confidence in her own martial arts prowess, yet much more relaxed and at ease with herself than Ranko could ever remember feeling.

"So," Watazashi resumed, "The world you know no longer exists and you are effectively an orphan, free to travel anywhere in time and space with the pendant as your sole companion. I must say that I do not envy you the choices you must face on account of this. I myself am quite happy with my own universe, and our recent travels together only convinced me that the saying, 'There s no place like home' has an appropriate meaning."

"I guess that's it," Ranko said, "I wanted to see you because...well...you seemed to be happy with your life. I've never really known what that must feel like. I've always been regretting the fact that I never got to know my father and mother..."

"I still find it difficult to conceive that your mother was Tendo Akane," Watazashi shook her head, "She is mother to a good friend of mine, but my father and Akane? A most unlikely combination."

"I guess," Ranko looked down, "They said that there was something wrong with her that was making her act violently, but when I saw her kill my father and aunts..."

"She was obviously not in her right mind when this occurred," Watazashi said reassuringly, laying a hand on Ranko's shoulder that caused the redhead to start and reflexively bat away the proffered contact. Watazashi blinked at this then asked, "Did I just cause you an offense...?"

"Ah..." Ranko looked at her offending hand as if it belonged to somebody else, then she glanced sheepishly down and said, "Sorry...I...well, Gramps is always trying stuff like that with me, and I...I guess I'm a little defensive about that..."

"Ah, I understand," Watazashi nodded, "You were raised by the old pervert who taught you the Saotome arts, but no doubt could not resist your feminine assets."

"He's not an old pervert..." Ranma started to say before she amended more softly, "At least...he's not to me...he's more like the family I never had. Grampa's always been in frail health, so he's never been able to teach me all that much. Aunt Kodachi's tried to teach me what it's like to be a lady, but I've never been too good at that feminine stuff, and with my curse..."

"Ah yes," Watazashi nodded sagely, "My mother is your adopted Aunt, and you turn into a handsome male version who strongly resembles our father. I'm very glad that you trusted me enough to come to see me because I confess that I find the details of your life quite fascinating, to say nothing of you, dear sister. You are a very intriguing person, a fine study in contrasts, yet so much like father it is easy to see him in your expression."

"Um..." Ranko didn't know what to say in regards to that, but her nervousness increased as she noted the speculative gleam in her half-sister's eyes as she looked Ranko over in a way that was unusual for another woman. Ranko belatedly remembered that this girl had some kind of a relationship going on with yet another girl named Yuan-Yen Tendo, the daughter of Ranko's Aunt Nabiki by some Amazon guy named Mousse. All at once she began to wonder if coming to this Watazashi had been such a tactically smart move as her nervousness increased sharply.

"Does it make you uncomfortable when I pay you a compliment?" Watazashi inclined her head in mild surprise and interest, "Surely you are not unaware of your surpassing beauty. After all you have fine genetics and excellent stock, so what is there for you to be afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!" Ranko said defensively before hesitating again then saying, "I'm just...not a girl lover like you are..."

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Watazashi smiled, "You are wondering, perhaps, that I might be into incest with a half-sister as tempting as you are?"

"Excuse me?" Ranko blinked, her cobalt blue eyes going even wider at this suggestion.

Watazashi stood up and said, "Perhaps another form of physical activity might be to your liking. I studied your combat style during our recent fight and am intrigued by your potential in that area. Would you do me the great honor of joining me for a little practice sparring session?"

Ranko felt a strange mixture of relief and disappointment as she got to her feet and said, "Okay, you're on! I've wanted to see how good you really are. There's nobody back home who can give me a decent workout."

"My thoughts exactly," Watazashi agreed, and a few moments later they were inside the school gymnasium facing off together, Watazashi having taken the time to shift to her leotard while Ranko preferred to remain in her Chinese-style clothing.

"You do know the rules regarding this form of competition, correct?" Watazashi asked the redhead at the onset of their sparring match, "No physical contact between opponents..."

"I know the drill, Watazashi," Ranko said in mild annoyance, "I was taught by your mother after all...or maybe a Kodachi pretty much like her, so knock it off with the 'big sister' routine and let's get this thing started."

"As you wish," Watazashi replied, "Then begin!"

Both girls pulled out matching ribbons from seeming no-where and began to engage in a short, furious fencing duel in which nothing was resolved as each had nearly identical attack and defense patterns. As soon as one ribbon came close to scoring it would be met and countered by the other ribbon, which would then snake out and attempt to score at a perceived opening in the other girl's defenses, only both women were too fast and agile to be in any one place for more than a few seconds, so before too long the combatants started to get creative, snatching objects within the gymnasium at seeming random to use in the fashion of a weapon, only to once again achieve a nominal stalemate as both girls anticipated each other's movements before they could be completed.

"Amazing," Watazashi remarked when the two broke to their respective corners, each perched on an opposing post as they surveyed the space between them, "You are every bit as good at this as I am!"

"Not surprising," Ranko smirked, "We had the same teacher."

"Very true," Watazashi leered, "But let us see how you fare with other weapons in your arsenal," and with that she pulled out the pin-shaped clubs and launched an attack, only to be met and countered again by Ranko, who met each thrust with her own set of clubs as a furious staccato-noise filled the gymnasium for the next several minutes. This time the fencing duel was more vigorous and involved even more thrust-and-parry motions as each twisted their body and moved with fluid rhythm in an artful ballet for which neither one had any clear advantages.

Of course Watazashi did surprise Ranko when she used her mother's legendary "Attack of a Thousand Clubs" to hold Ranko off while she fished out a hoop and used it as a distraction with which to feint an attack, forcing Ranko to back off a step before the loop suddenly altered direction and came down around her, and a loop concealed within the ring closed about her arms, pinning them to her body.

"Hey!" she protested, "No fair! You cheated!"

"Not at all," Watazashi grinned as she took advantage of the moment to loop several more lines of chord around her nominal sparring partner, tripping her up and hog-tying Ranko within a matter of mere moments. Once she had completed her handiwork she stepped back and completed her sentence, "I do this all the time with my regular sparring partner, only she doesn't seem to much mind being rendered helpless by me. I must admit, you do look awfully good tied up like that, your resemblance to Father notwithstanding..."

"Let me go!" Ranko protested, "When I get loose from this I'm gonna come after you, 'Zashi!"

"Promise?" Watazashi asked with a smile, causing Ranko to briefly stop struggling as she looked up in startlement, not anticipating that response to her threat, to which Watazashi inclined her head and said, "Mind you I am very impressed with the level of skill you have been demonstrating, but I suppose I will let you go for now, since this was merely a sporting practice between us."

"Huh?" Ranko blinked her eyes as Watazashi knelt down and began to undo the loops around her wrists and ankles, "You're weird, 'Zashi..."

"But loveable," Watazashi replied as she freed Ranko of her remaining loops, then wound the chord back up and smiled sardonically down at her, "You can't really fault me for tying you up like that. I've mastered a fair number of techniques in order to incapacitate opponents without really doing them any damage. I know I gave you no warning that I was into such kinky sport, but you will also admit that had I been serious and earnest in my endeavors then you would not be getting up so easily, and you would be at my mercy for the conceivable duration.

"Um..." Ranko did not even know how to begin to respond to this, but before she had the chance the sound of whizzing chains caused her to jump back as Watazashi assumed a defensive crouch and avoided a similar attempted ensnarement.

"Darling?" Watazashi said in surprise as Ranko got to her feet and saw who was standing off a short distance eyeing them both with a very cross expression.

"I might have known I'd catch you flirting behind my back, 'Zashi," scowled a brown haired girl whom Ranko knew by the name of Tendo Yuan-Yen, the daughter of a paratime equivalent to her own late Aunt Nabiki.

"Flirting?" Watazashi chuckled nervously, "Not at all! You remember sister Ranko from our recent travels together, surely?"

"Ranko?" Yuan-Yen lost her angry glare as she studied the face of the redhead then relaxed her posture somewhat, "What are you doing here? I thought...?"

"It's a long story," Ranko waved her hands in what was meant to be a disarming manner, "I wasn't trying anything with 'Zashi here, we were just...having a friendly little match..."

"Uh-huh," the beautiful brown-haired girl replied skeptically as she eyed Watazashi once again with a cross expression, "I'll just bet what kind of sport you were trying with her, 'Zashi. I thought we had a deal that I was the only girl you had any right to put the moves on in this school..."

"Oh, but you are, my dearest Yuan-chan," Watazashi said soothingly as she approached the other girl in a solicitous manner, "You know that you are the only girl whom I truly wish to tie up and abuse in all sorts of interesting ways, mainly because you make it such a challenge to come up with new and more inventive ways to please you."

"Hmph," Yuan-Yen sniffed aloofly, but even Ranko could see her stern act was weakening as the dark haired Watazashi came to stand before her, and the heat generated by their expressions as their eyes made contact left Ranko in no doubt of the depth and sincerity of their mutual feelings, "Just so you remember that in the future when a cute girl goes dropping in on you unannounced..."

"Now don't be like that, my darling," Watazashi said as she caressed the other girl's cheek with a hand, "It's not like you to be so jealously possessive. Think rather of this as a unique form of opportunity."

"Opportunity?" Yuan-Yen lifted both eyebrows.

"But of course," Watazashi smiled knowingly, "How often does an analogue to ourselves come calling who looks remarkably like father in his cursed form? I would say that constitutes a most remarkable form of opportunity, don't you?"

There was a slight pause before the other girl began to reflect Watazashi's eagerness and then in a soft coo she said, "Oh yeah...that kind of opportunity. Well, when you put it like that, I guess I wouldn't mind sharing..."

"Sharing what?" Ranko asked, only to see the evasive looks both girls turned upon her, and then suddenly they were at her sides, each taking her by one arm and gently steering her in the direction of the locker rooms.

"Never you worry about a thing, Ranko-chan," Watazashi smiled leeringly down at her with a sultry expression, "Just leave everything to us and there won't be any problems."

"Yeah," Yuan-Yen said with unusual enthusiasm, "Just put yourself in our hands and everything will be just fine, you'll see."

"But...where are we going?" Ranko wondered as she was ushered past the lockers and heading towards the shows and sauna.

"You need to freshen up, the same as me," Watazashi made a dramatic sound of sniffing the air before holding her nose with one hand, "You reek of one who has engaged in heavy activity. Fortunately this school has excellent facilities for cleansing the body and freeing the mind of all your worldly discomforts."

"And best of all," Yuan-Yen faintly chuckled, "Complete privacy in which to conduct our business."

"Business?" Ranko asked nervously, wondering just what she was letting herself in for, and whether or not she ought to put a stop to things before they proceeded any farther...to wherever the heck it was that they intended to go...

Continuum #53192764

"Damn," Ranma swore as he looked around, "You sure these are the right coordinates, nab-chan?"

"This is where central directed us," Nabiki surveyed the ruins that they were standing among with as much confusion as he manifested, "Only I think someone made a mistake. This doesn't look to be the sort of place the amulet would transport her, even at a random setting."

"No fooling," Ranma turned to survey the most startling feature of the landscape, a huge flat mesa composed entirely of some blue substances that his senses read as completely off the scale in terms of Ki-force, "What the heck do you suppose made that? Looks like some kind of huge matrix crystal or something..."

"Something," Nabiki consulted her wrist-scanner, then said, "That thing is solidified Chi! Whatever made it locked an entire block of ectoplasmic life-  
energy, at least a mile long with sixty percent of its area projecting down into the ground, and maybe a hundred meters or so in diameter. Looks fairly recent, too, as if it had just been formed in the past day or so. Weird that..."

"I'll say it's weird," Ranma frowned, "I get the oddest feeling looking at that...like it reminds me somehow of Shampoo and...and what happened to her..." for a moment his expression fell to deep, abiding sadness as he remembered the perky Amazon of his own timeline

"Shampoo?" Nabiki frowned, "That jars a memory...something I read once from an analysis of cross-time parallel world divergence..."

"Ah, forget about it," Ranma said a touch too hastily, "Let's just find Ranko and get out of here. This place is starting to depress me."

"Sure thing, Ranma-kun," Nabiki said as she started fiddling with one of her portable devices, "I just need to run a few tests to see why we were led here, cross-check the findings with the central relays back at headquarters and..."

"Did you say...Ranma?" a graven voice inquired, causing both Time Agents to turn and glance at a spot where the rocks and stones were slowly being forced apart, and a manlike figure began to crawl out into the open.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Ranma instantly focused his perceptions on the huge man struggling to regain his footing, sensing a dark, negative aura that was coupled by a self-recycling field that was causing the man to heal the damage taken to his body at a fantastically accelerated rate.

"You've changed," the stranger said as he focused a malevolent expression towards Ranma, "I must have been trapped down there longer than I thought. No matter...one year or ten, I will still have my vengeance!"

"Vengeance?" Ranma seemed mildly puzzled as he studied the other man's face, then snapped his fingers, "Hey wait! I know you! I ran into you before...your name's...ah...Nab-chan, help me out here, will you?"

"So much for that fine, infallible memory of yours," Nabiki snorted.

"Hey, give me a break and toss me a bone, willya?" Ranma complained, "It's been a while and I've had so many enemies over the years, even I lose count. So what's one more with mister Sour-puss here?"

"The name is GEMMA!" the tall giant roared, drawing back a fist and charging forward, only to be met by a casual back-hand that felt more like a sledge-  
hammer than a human fist. It sent the giant hurtling backward a good forty meters before he landed in a heal on the ground, his face crushed inward and bleeding profusely.

"Did I hear that right?" Ranma growled, "Was that Genma he just called himself?"

"No, Gemma," Nabiki repeated the word for emphasis, "Gem-ma, as in Darkness. I know it sounds a lot like your father's name..."

"I wish you'd clarified that sooner," Ranma growled, "I hate being reminded about Pop, it tends to make me slightly homicidal."

"Well, for what it's worth, so is he," Nabiki indicated the burly man, who was even then fighting to regain his footing, "I've researched this guy...he's leader of a gang that called itself the Eight Devils of Kimmon, who cut a reign of terror in Feudal Japan just before the end of the Tokugawa era. This guy was supposed to be gifted with some ultra-heavy Ninja trick called Resurrection..."

"Yeah, I remember now," Ranma nodded grimly, "The guy can practically heal back any sort of injury, even if his head's disconnected from his body, which makes him more dangerous than a regular Immortal. He's also some kind of psychopathic mass-murdering sicko who thinks he's tough stuff because he's killed a lot of women, children and civilians in his time, like that something to be proud about..."

"You dare ignore me!" the giant loomed large on his feet as he started to charge forward again.

"Ah, stuff it," Ranma sniffed, "I don't got time to mess around with a creep like you, so go play with the Devil!"

And with that Ranma easily dodged the attack of the burly giant and slapped his palm against the killer's solar plexus, then stepped back and assumed a nonchalant pose while Gemma staggered back, clutching at his chest and looking as though he were on fire from within.

"Wh-What did you do to me?" were the last coherent words to escape the giant's lips before a blackness erupted from the region of his heart and began to flare out in all directions, consuming his flesh as it went until the giant's body began to decay, then disintegrate, coming apart until even the fragments of his body were smoldering ashes, to be replaced by nothing. His head was the last thing to go, but in a moment there was nothing left of the guy but the stench left behind by his disintegration.

"Okay," Ranma casually turned back to Nabiki, "Now, what were you saying about running some tests? Is Ranko here or ain't she?"

"That's what I'm trying to determine, Saotome," Nabiki replied as she resumed the work of making calculations, the brief interruption already forgotten, "There's a lot of interference in the area caused by that pillar over there. I think, however, that we were deliberately snookered into coming here for precisely that reason."

"Excuse me?" Ranma asked, "You mean this is a false trail we've been following?"

"Looks like it to me," Nabiki nodded grimly, "I really have badly underestimated that pendant. It somehow must have known that we were on its trail, so it sent a phony lead directing us here to this place."

"I don't get it," Ranma shook his head, "We're about twenty years in the past, and there's supposed to be a mountain named Phoenix right where we're standing populated by the bird people and that doll-making freak, Saffron, but instead we've got us a huge anomaly, and I think that guy must've run into one of my parallel brothers, who did something to tick the guy off, for which I think he ought to be congratulated..."

"Stop patting yourselves on the back, Saotome," Nabiki sighed, "No point hanging around here. We'd better return to headquarters and see what the Central relays can make of all this. Maybe the scans I took of the pendant when I briefly had possession of it will give me some clue as to what it's up to."

"I sure hope so," Ranma averred softly, "Poor kid's out there somewhere lost in creation, doing Kami-knows what else in order to stay alive. I can't even imagine the sort of torments she's gotta be going through knowing she altered her own past and effectively made herself a Temporal exile..."

"I'm sure she's doing well enough, Ranma-kun," Nabiki tried to sound reassuring as she added, "After all, she's a Saotome, and you guys always find a way to come up smelling like roses, provided you take a scented bubble-bath first," she added with a smirk, making a point to cover her nose, which earned her a playful growl from her iinazuke...

Ranko gasped, feeling a strange kind of amazement take hold of her as she found herself in the space between her nominal "sister" and "cousin," wondering how they managed to talk her into this whole deal, though for the life of her it sure felt amazing!

"You like that?" Watazashi cooed, "I rather thought you would."

"See what I mean about having the right facilities?" Yuan-Yen purred sensually, "And all thanks to a generous donation by 'Zashi's mother to her old Alma Matter."

Ranko merely groaned and squirmed in reply, unable to help the way her body was reacting to the stream of bubbles playing against her skin while she sat positioned before the Aqua Jet Vibratory Massage Seat located in this end of the Jacuzzi. The tingly sensations it was creating within the muscles of her body gradually eased away the aches and pains of her recent sparring match and left her feeling refreshed and invigorated, exactly as Watazashi and Yuan-Yen had promised!

"So," Watazashi purred, "Admit it...when you first heard us propose a dip in this pool you were thinking that maybe we had other sorts of...ulterior motives...correct?"

"W-Well..." Ranko reluctantly conceded, "You guys are pretty tight with each other, but I don't think I could ever be so relaxed about...um...y'know? Doin' it with another girl and all that..."

In truth she was understating the point, and not just because she did not want to give offense to her new friends. Simply being naked with two self-admitted girl-lovers had taken great effort on Ranko's part just working up the courage. The way they spoke and acted with her make it pretty obvious that they had ulterior motives behind their offers of friendship, but for some reason Ranko felt more flattered than offended by their interest. She could not bring herself to dislike anyone who was so much like her Aunt 'Dachi, while the Yuan-  
Yen girl was cute, perky and charming in a wholly different sense than to what Ranko was accustomed. For some reason she found herself trusting both girls against her usual reservations and inclinations to remain aloof and unattached. She had a very strong notion what spending time with them would eventually entail, but her normal warning instincts failed to kick in as something about these two and their casual ease around each other was proving to be enormously attractive.

Of course, though Ranko had removed her clothing in general, she was still wearing the pendant, curiously reluctant to part company with the thing as it was her only means of transportation, and without it she would quite literally be stranded in time...not an unpleasant prospect, present company considered...

"How can you be sure of that?" Yuan-Yen asked, drawing Ranko back to the moment and her momentary disclaimer, "You ever do it with a guy?"

"Of course not!" Ranko squirmed as she felt a different sort of rising heat pressing in on her from both sides, "I never...uh...well...nobody at school...well...y'know..."

"Surely you've had a crush or two in your time," Watazashi reasoned, "I find it impossible to imagine that one so attractive as yourself might escape the notice of the opposite sex, or even other girls who share our inclinations, eh, Yuan-  
chan?" she smirked at the other girl, who smiled back in like manner.

"Oh sure," Ranko hesitated, "Guys come onto me all the time, but I usually deck 'em and tell them to get lost. There's one...guy...he's kinda nice, but I don't really know how to approach him. I've spent most of my spare time training with Gramps while Aunt 'Dachi and Grandma Nodoka fret about me not turning into a 'proper lady' and all that crap."

"It sounds to me as if you are a very frustrated person," Watazashi reasoned, "No one to take notice of you for yourself rather than what other people expect you to be. I know what that feels like...I was much the same way until I became intimate with Yuan-chan."

"'Dachi used to go on a lot of training trips with her old man," Yuan-Yen explained, "She was only in school about half the time, so I didn't really get to see that much of her growing up, until one day when we met again about a year back and everything just seemed to click between us. We started seeing a lot more of each other over the last year, and then we really started to get intimate..." she smiled, "You should try it yourself, it can do wonders about relaxing your body, mind and spirit. Virginity's overrated and the kind of frustrations you build up aren't really healthy to the system."

"Very true," Watazashi said gently as Ranko felt a finger touch her arm under the water, "Saying 'No' doesn't guarantee you happiness and a successful marriage...that's just what they teach you to believe in an attempt at trying to limit and control you. I threw off the shackles of such false perceptions when Yuan-Yen made me come to truly appreciate myself as a woman. You can lose a lot of that self-loathing I perceive, the loneliness that's eating you up inside, the sense of isolation that comes from knowing that you are the best of the best in your generation..."

"Letting go is actually a lot more like winning in the end," Yuan-Yen agreed, "So...you see? We only want to help you, if you'll let us."

"Just say no and we'll stop," Watazashi assured her, adding, "You came to us for a reason...I think you know what it is, you just have to accept yourself and learn to let go...or can it be that you are frightened of us and what we intend for you?"

"I'm not scared!" Ranko insisted, "I'm not scared of nothing! Only..." she paused, "I-I just don't know..." she gasped as that finger traced a path from her arm to her hip and slowly began to make its way down her outer thigh. She became acutely aware of a second hand tracing a similar path on her opposite side, and both faces leaning closer to her with matching expressions that somehow made Ranko melt inside, as if she had only been waiting for this moment.

"Let us help you," Watazashi said, leaning even closer.

"Yes," Yuan-Yen agreed, "Let's."

Ranko closed her eyes as the hands both moved across her knees and then began to gently pry them apart while the water-jets and vibrations coming off the pad she was sitting upon began to make her muscles loosen up even more. Those two hands then started to creep along the inner surface of her thighs, causing Ranko to lean back and groan even more as some impulse caused her to reach out to touch both girls at her side, sliding an arm around both of their waists rather than to push them away, as she might once had intended.

Those spider-web sensations that shot up through her body caused her to wonder briefly about her sexual orientation. On any other occasion she would have intensely denied having ever felt attraction to another girl, but now she knew the truth was that she was attracted to Watazashi, and she found Yuan-Yen cute as well, perhaps because one reminded her of her Aunt Kodachi, while the other was an exotic beauty who seemed altogether comfortable about her sex, something Ranko had never felt in either of her two halves. When those fingers found their way up to the gates of her forbidden passage she groaned very softly and did make protest. She felt Watazashi's lips kissing her on the cheek and turned her head into the kiss, her mouth making contact with the other girl's as Watazashi gave her what she really wanted, a kiss from someone who honestly and earnestly appreciated her as a woman!

Watazashi's hand suddenly surrendered Ranko's loins to Yuan's fingers and instead moved up to cup Ranko's right breast before finding the nipple and playing with it between her thumb and forefinger. This had a result that was wholly surprising to the redhead, eliciting another groan from her as she felt that breast grow hard and firm with an entirely feminine erection. Watazashi continued to play with her in a way that wasn't like the groping or fumbling that a boy might visit on his first time having sex. Ranko had never even played with herself before, so the sensation of being delicately played with by two girls who obviously knew their business from long practice was enough to erase any lingering inhibitions on her part. Ranko began returning Watazashi's kisses with sincere enthusiasm, which just encouraged the dark haired girl to begin messaging the other breast while leaning her body up against Ranko's arm to run her own firm bosoms against her.

Yuan-Yen, meanwhile, had inserted two fingers up Ranko's snatch and was playing with the ultra-sensitive nerves, striking paydirt when she used her thumb to ply the other girl's clitoris and cause it to grow as erect as Ranko's nipples. Those fingers wiggled around inside Ranko as the redheaded girl automatically spread her legs farther apart, curling her feet and arching her heels as she started to experience a strange series of reactions cascade throughout her body. As she felt Watazashi's other hand begin to slide down and behind her firm bottom, Ranko wondered what she was up to, only to feel fingers play with her from a different quarter, which caused her another set of gyrating sensations to flutter within her heart and cause butterflies to turn into electric sparks that jumped between the various synapses of her nervous system!

As Yuan plied her arts at her front entrance and Watazashi did the same from the rear while continuing to fondle Ranko's breasts while Yuan leaned in to plant kisses to Ranko's exposed neck and shoulder, a curious phenomenon began to take place as the pendant that Ranko yet was wearing began to emote a faint pulsing gleam, which anyone who had experienced the cross-dimension travels of previous days would have noticed with alarm had the three horny young girls not had their minds on other distractions.

And then it happened, the same wrenching sensation that all three girls had experienced before on other during their brief adventures of the previous day. With a jolt that left them briefly stunned they suddenly found themselves upon a hard-wood surface in the middle of a gymnasium floor surrounded by guys, who were gaping at their nude bodies in total amazement.

"What the heck?" one of these guys said, waving a hand without turning away from the astonishing sight before them, "Ah...coach?"

Watazashi hastily sat up while Yuan-Yen more carefully removed her fingers from Ranko's snatch. The other girl lay panting and gasping on the smooth surface of an indoor basketball court, too nerveless and spent from both the transition and her first-ever orgasm to pay much attention to the drooling faces and nose-  
bleeds all around her.

"What the hell?" Yuan-Yen gasped.

"Oh my..." Watazashi looked around, not even bothering to cover her breasts or loins as the loss of her dignity was too irreparable to want to draw such attention by showing a reaction, "I don't think we're at Saint Hebereke any more, Yuan-chan."

"No fooling!" Yuan-Yen displayed far more modesty than her companion, covering her breasts with one arm while her hand covered her groin, "It's gotta be that damned pendant again! Somehow it must've activated when..."

"Indeed," Watazashi urged, "We'll talk later when..."

"Excuse me!" a voice called out, causing both women to turn with a start at the approach of a dark haired woman wearing a coach's outfit, "But would you mind telling me what you're doing here disrupting a game? I don't mean to pry or anything like that, but shouldn't you girls be doing this in the dressing room? It would be a lot less distracting than making out in the open..."

That voice caused Ranko to sit up with a start, remember her state of undress as she belatedly covered herself over, then looked up at the lady coach and gasped, seeing a face she could never forget as she cried, "MOTHER...?!"

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Crossovers Unlimited: shadowmane

Out of the Jacuzzi into the Frying pan for our three intrepid girls as they once more find themselves tripping through time and meeting new people, only a few of whom mean to kill them. So...what is the jewel up to this time, and why has it selected Ranko for its new self-appointed mission? For more on that and more tune in next time when things really start jumping for our tumultuous trio...be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	4. Chapter 4

RanSquare3

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
Including my good friend Dreiser [Nicole Manders]  
and the characters from her series "Black Rose, Blue Thunder.")

Chapter Three.

Nexus of Planes Central Dispatch.

"Well, have you figured it out yet?"

Nabiki did not look up from her console but did allow her exasperation to show as she replied, "For the third straight time, Saotome, I'm still running tests! The central relays have a lot of data to crunch if we're to obtain a precise estimate of where that dratted gem is and what it's ultimately seeking to accomplish. I have Tetrabytes of variables that have to be factored in. You know how vast the Multiverse is, even the time portion of it that contains human life, and about the only factor working in our favor is that most of the phenomenon so far seem to be centered around one location...our hometown of Nerima."

"That's what worries me," Ryoga admitted, "If this thing can travel anywhere, then why just that one place? Besides the Amazon village and a few suburbs around Tokyo, it always comes back to Furinkan High and the Tendo Dojo, and always one of our families, like it's homing back that way again and again."

"I know what you mean, old buddy," Ranma nodded, "That thing's got something to do with my family, my bloodline. I can feel it in my gut...it's got something to do with us Saotomes."

"How do you know it's not just as interested in a Tendo?" Ryoga asked, "Or even a Hibiki?"

"As flattering as it would be to think my family holds such a prominent place in the scheme of all realities," Nabiki noted dryly, "I'm afraid Ranma-kun's right...it is focusing mostly on Saotomes, though it does seem to have a fair penchant for Purple Haired Amazon kids," she noted rather archly, "It seems to be drawn to the current Nexus of each Reality, which just happens to be one of Ranma-kun's variable offspring. The sole exception does include a couple of Tendo kids, one being my daughter, the other the daughter of Kasumi on that world where one of us married Shampoo, but other than that..."

"Right," Ranma gruffly acknowledged, "So it's either me or Shampoo who creates the new Nexus. Lucky us! Poor kids have to go through the same crap that I did, being the center of all the mayhem and insanity that goes with the turf. So...are you jealous or what?"

"Jealous?" Nabiki's tone was suddenly as sharp as fingernails on a chalkboard, "I AM NOT JEALOUS!"

"Okay, we believe you!" Ryoga hastily intervened in a rare show for him of diplomatic deceitfulness, "So why is it interested in either Ranma or Shampoo? Why couldn't one of my kids be a Nexus?"

"Because, Porky, you already are a wandering variable factor," Ranma retorted, "You take a wrong step without your transmap homing device and you could wind up in Timbuktu during the revolution. It used to be bad when you only got lost on the Japan home Islands, but now..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ryoga sighed, "A human Tardis, that's me, and all because Mom carried the curse of the Hibikis through Grampa's line. Like it's my fault I'm part Oni..."

"Heads up!" Nabiki cried, "I've got a fix on the jewel! It appears to have become stationary at these coordinates. If we phase in just right we may be able to catch it before it jumps to the next sector.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ranma tapped Ryoga on the shoulder, "Let's go find my kid."

"Not without me you're not," Nabiki stood up and reached for her purse, "This thing could be too much for you to handle. You'll need a Lore Master with my tracking skills to hunt it down and nail this elusive sucker."

"No argument there," Ranma noted, "But who'll mind the store while you're away?"

There was a slight hiss from the Transmat booth, and then a pretty woman with long brown hair smiled at the three and said, "Reporting for duty as ordered, Ma'am."

Ryoga winced a little and said, "Her?"

"Ryonami," Nabiki smiled, "You've already got the download on what's at stake here. Monitor everything and feed in new instructions when I tell you. I'm counting on your Gambler's touch to help us regain the initiative on this thing, okay?"

"Sure thing, Boss," Ryonami said as she took the control station, plugging in for the variable headset, "I'll try and give you the edge on beating this thing. Anything you want me to say to Derek if he should come calling?"

"Just that we'll try to keep the property damage and temporal disruption down to a minimum," Nabiki replied as she headed towards the turbovator, followed by her two subordinate War Masters, one of whom paused at the exit to comment over his shoulder, "And watch it with the Betting Pools, huh? I still ain't forgiven you for those nude shots you circulated around the Coffee room, Ryo-san."

"Why, Mister Saotome," the pretty brunette grinned without looking back his way, "I'm surprised that a guy as Manly and Hunky as you would worry about showing off his physique to us girls, or has Nabiki-sama finally put her brand on your cute tush? Or perhaps you're wondering about those modeling shots that somehow wound up in Playboy...along with Ryoga-kun's full-page spread in Playgirl?"

"Why do I bother asking," Ranma turned around and left, thinking to himself of the injustice of it all that the Kami had made all the really spunky, sassy girls much too cute to pound for their troubles...

Continuum #68743219

Roll Call:

Ranko Saotome-Daughter of Ranma &amp; Akane from Continuum #29715382 Watazashi Saotome-Daughter of Ranma &amp; Kodachi from Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen TendoDaughter of Nabiki &amp; Mousse from Continuum #29457180

"Mother?" asked Coach Akane as she studied the naked red-haired girl without obvious recognition, then she smiled, "But you don't look a thing like Candy. I'm pretty sure I would have recognized you if I'd seen you around here before now. Are you one of Watazashi's new girlfriends?"

"Eh?' the dark haired Watazashi blinked her eyes, "You...know of me?"

"Of course I do," Akane grinned, "You take right after your mother, although I must say this stunt is a bit over the top even for you. But then again, you'd do anything to make a quick buck, right? And who are you, young lady? I don't know why, but you do seem awfully familiar..."

"Ah..." Yuan-Yen shivered slightly, altogether aware of all the drooling boys gazing at the naked trio with the sort of slack-jawed, ecchi expressions that she had always found repellent in the male sex.

"My companion is named Yuan-Yen," Watazashi said with stern indifference to the stares that she was receiving, refusing utterly to acknowledge her nude status and letting her posture serve as her armor (not to mention a warning to any boy heedless enough to dare tempt her wrath by any improper behavior), "And this other is our good friend, Ranko..."

"Saotome," Ranko said without thinking, "Saotome Ranko."

"Oh?" Coach Akane said brightly, "You must be Watazashi's cousin. Well, how nice it is to meet you. I'm sorry if I was rude to you before, but we're in the middle of practice for the big Intramural game we've got going Saturday, Boys against the Girls, so maybe Champion here can take you guys back to the lockers and issue you a space set of clothes so you don't catch pneumonia, then we can talk later and get to know each other better. Champ-chan?"

"Yes Mother," a handsome boy stepped forward, then hastily amended himself, "I mean, Coach..."

"Mother?" Watazashi, Yuan-Yen and Ranko looked from the tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired boy to Akane and back again, seeing a faint resemblance between them.

"Ah...hi," the fellow in question replied, "If you'll follow me this way I'll get you guys suited up, then maybe you can sit in with the girl's team..."

All at once a tall, an athletic girl with stunning green eyes and long black hair came rushing up to join them, her face so pretty it even stunned Watazashi, as did this girl's boundless enthusiasm as she gushed in a happy, kawaii manner, "Oh wow! More girls to play on our side? Gee, 'Zashi, where did you find these two? They're so pretty...but what are you guys doing without any clothes on? Is this supposed to be that kind of game? Because if it is, I'm sure the rest of the girls wouldn't mind doing this in the nude with you..."

The sound of a sharp intake of expectant breath and the drools of half a dozen players greeted this comment as the energetic girl reached down to begin removing her T-shirt, only to be stopped by Champion, who said, "That's all right, Candy! We're just talking to 'Zashi's new friends. No need for you to start any riots."

"Aw," the girl looked faintly disappointed, but she brightened up at once as she hopped around the taller boy and all but bounced on the balls of her feet as she wrung her hands together and said, "Who are your friends, 'Zashi? Are they single? Are they dating anyone?"

Watazashi forced her eyes to stop zeroing in on the girl's T-shirt, where a noticeable bounce was causing her an intense degree of distraction. Looking into the girl's cute face did not help either, but somehow she managed to say, "Ah...well...if you must know..."

"She's taken," Yuan-Yen stopped covering her breasts and took firm grasp of Watazashi's arm to still any speculation on that end, "I'm Tendo Yuan-Yen, and this here is Saotome Ranko."

"Tendo...and Saotome?" Champion asked with growing confusion.

"Oh wow!" Candy said brightly, shifting the focus of her attention on Yuan-Yen, "Then that must mean that we're cousins! You're so Kawaii!" and before Yuan-  
Yen had time to react to this the girl threw her arms around her and Watazashi in an enthusiastic hug that left both women with distressed and puzzled expressions.

"Is she always like this?" Ranko murmured to Champion.

"As long as I've been alive," Champion replied, "She's my twin sister, Candy."

"YOUR...?" Ranko looked from him to Candy and then to Akane, then without thinking she blurted out, "You mean...she's MY sister too?"

"Huh?" Candy let go of Yuan-Yen and Watazashi, who staggered back a little before catching their mutual balance together, then Candy turned to Ranko and asked, "You're my sister? But I thought Mom...?"

"Ah, well...it's...kinda complicated..." Ranko started to explain when she suddenly found herself in a glomp by the other girl, who all but picked her off her feet as she cried happily, "A sister! I always wanted to have a sister! You look a lot like me, except for the hair color..."

"Now that you mention it," Akane mused, "There is a slight resemblance..."

"Help!" Ranko called out, finding it incredibly difficult to pry herself loose from the arms of her paratime sister.

"Sis is always so enthusiastic when she meets new people," Champion smiled before turning to Yuan-Yen and Watazashi, "Um...not that it's any of my business or anything, and I can see you and your friend are pretty tight together, but...is it really such a good idea to be this open about it, 'Zashi-chan? What about Tink? You know how she's going to react when she hears about this!"

Watazashi slowly pried her gaze from the sight of Ranko being hugged by the overly enthusiastic Candy to look at the handsome boy, who was so obviously related to her Yuan-Yen, and then very softly she asked, "Tink...?"

Continuum #29457180

Nabiki's expression was so sour it would have curdled milk throughout the entire district, and in a very low growl she said, "Not a word about it, Saotome! Not one word, you hear me?"

"Uh...okay," Ranma replied tactfully, not feeling particularly suicidal at the moment. Nabiki was obviously upset about the pendant once again having outfoxed them, and he saw no advantages to be gained by rubbing her nose in it, so he surveyed the sauna area and refrained from commentary.

Unfortunately his partner lacked the same degree of self-preservation instinct and said, "Doesn't look like anyone's around, either Ranko or any of the other kids we encountered last time."

Nabiki's sharp intake of breath was punctuated by the water in the Jacuzzi suddenly boiling out of control and forming a snake-like column that hovered in the air next to Ryoga for several seconds, causing him to start in panic before the snake dissipated as Nabiki got a handle on her temper once again.

"All right," she said between deep breaths, "So the bloody thing created another false trail for us. At least this time we know for a fact that Ranko was indeed here. Those are her things tucked up in the corner over there beside some other girl's belongings...two other girls...one tall with dark hair, the other brown hair and very willowy in build..."

"They must have left in an awful hurry," Ryoga remarked, "If they left their clothes behind when they translocated, then that means when they arrived..." his eyes got very wide as the realization hit him, and at once he clamped his fingers over his nose to prevent the prospective nosebleed.

"This isn't...?" Ranma shuddered slightly, "This isn't that same timeline where I...with Kodachi?"

"I'm afraid it is," Nabiki sighed, going to the bench and picking up the clothing articles and shoes, "We'll take these with us...I think the girls might want to have their things back when we do catch up with them...and mark me...WE WILL be catching up with them next time!"

"Ah...right," Ranma agreed, knowing it was prudent to simply nod his head whenever Nabiki assumed that tone of voice. It was not healthy to brook her anger, and not just because she knew elemental tricks that had been taught to her by an Amazon Lore Master.

"That junk jewelry hasn't licked me yet!" Nabiki swore as she stormed her way out of the sauna portion of the gym, leading the two men behind her to exchange worried looks behind her back.

"You think maybe she's taking this just a little too personal?" Ryoga murmured at the level of a stage whisper.

"Maybe," Ranma agreed, "But you wanna argue that with her?"

"No way!" Ryoga averred, "Akari wouldn't forgive me if I came back home in something other than Pig form..."

"GENTLEMEN!" a voice called back to them archly, "If you insist on making me wait, then I might as well be the one driving to our next destination."

Both Warriors hastened to heed their dispatcher's call, taking the threat seriously...and the thought of Nabiki at the wheel in the sort of mood she was in was enough to strike fear in the heart of a dragon. There was something about the way she would take hair-turns around Temporal vortexes that tended to make even a reckless and foolhardy hero understandably nervous, and though they might be many things elsewise, the two Time Agents were far from that lacking in discretion...

Continuum #68743219

"You mean to say that you three are from a parallel world?" Akane asked while they gathered in her office, then clapped her hands together enthusiastically and cried, "Neat! This is just like one of those old episodes of Star Trek! So you're a Watazashi from another dimension, while you're...my daughter!" she cried happily as she grinned at Ranko.

Ranko only half-smiled in return, sitting in her borrowed Gym-shorts and T-shirt that had the Furinkan school logo. Her companions were dressed identically, but since none of them had brought shoes with them and no extra pair could be found in their sizes they were all three presently barefoot without either bras or panties as they sat in Coach Akane's office explaining their story to a relative stranger who just happened to look a lot like their Aunt and Ranko's mother. To judge from the glances she was exchanging with her cross-parallel time sister and cousin it was clear to Ranko that they were no more comfortable than she was about the situation.

As pleasant as it was for Ranko to spend time in the presence of this ultra-nice version of her mother, Ranko was beginning to feel very odd and uncomfortable, feeling that nagging sense that something was not entirely right about the situation. At least this Akane was so very different from what she had learned about her own mother as to make it seem as if this were a wholly different person. Just looking into the super-Kawaii face of her overly enthusiastic half-sibling, Candy, was enough to make he wonder why being an only child had seemed so difficult. Still she could not bring herself to dislike her newfound siblings...it would have been like kicking a dog not to like them! As strange as the whole deal was, it was somehow reassuring to know that on at least one world her mother had not turn into a homicidal psycho.

Of course the walls lined with trophies took a bit of getting used to. Apparently in this world Akane wasn't a premier martial artist but instead a highly touted and successful professional athlete who had lived a stunning career in the world of professional sports before choosing early retirement to teach athletic classes at her old alma matter. The loss to the world of a celebrated athlete in her prime had been the gain of the athletic department at Furinkan, for she brought prestige with her, as well as a winning formula that had carried them to victory after victory in the last two seasons that she had been there. She had a peculiar knack for coaching out the best hidden potential of her students, charming them to believe in her so enthusiastically that they would literally tear through the opposition rather than disappoint their beloved coach, whom some worshipped near to being a Goddess. The mere hint of unhappiness on her features would drive the athletic teams mad with a desire to excel, and they prided themselves on their invincible status, though never once did Akane seem to have allowed any of this to go to her head or adversely affect her.

"Just think what Ranma will say when I tell him that there's a universe where he married me instead of 'Dachi-chan," this Akane was saying with a bright, cheerful expression, "I can't wait to see his expression!"

"Um...excuse me for asking," Yuan-Yen said hesitantly, "But if you didn't marry Uncle Saotome, then who did you wind up marrying?"

Akane rewarded them with the most radiant smile that they had seen on her so far (which was about like comparing the magnitude of very bright stars) and pointed to a picture on her desk, which she then turned around to show them as she said, "I'm married to the most beautiful, gorgeous, kindly and considerate woman in the world, as well as a being a fantastically popular actress, Chocolate Mousse. Isn't she something?"

"Chocolate?" Watazashi stared at the picture before them, seeing an extraordinarily beautiful woman standing in a martial-arts pose, clearly taken as a publicity still for a period-piece Shaolin-style movie.

"Mousse?" Yuan-Yen repeated, having a sudden grasp of why Candy looked do familiar. If her father had a Jusenkyo curse or was born female...would that be what he would look like? Then that also meant that these two...

"You are married to an Amazon?" Watazashi asked.

"So is my big Sis," Akane said brightly, "Kasumi married an Amazon named Perfume and they have a lovely daughter named Tinkerbell who's involved with our Watazashi."

"I'm involved with someone who goes by the name Tinkerbell?" Watazashi looked stunned at the prospect.

"Ah...excuse my asking," Yuan-Yen spoke with tremulous apprehension, "But who is your sister, Nabiki, married to on this timeline?"

"Ryoga-kun, of course," Akane replied, "Thus fulfilling the agreement of our parents to unite the Anything Goes houses of Tendo and Saotome."

"This Ryoga is a Saotome?" Ranko blinked.

"Not the last that I'd heard," Watazashi replied, "Did grandfather adopt him as a Saotome?"

"No, silly," Akane chided, "Uncle Genma is Ryoga's father. Didn't you know that?"

"But...he's a Hibiki," Yuan-Yen pointed out.

"On his mother's side," Akane replied, "Ryoga-kun chose to keep his mother's name, but he's as much a Saotome as Ranma."

Yuan-Yen looked at Watazashi, "You and Razor are cousins?"

"Don't remind me," Watazashi said darkly, "Father and Grandfather will have some explaining to do when we get back to our right and proper timeline."

"Oh, you can explain it to your father when he gets here," Akane revealed, "I called him up while you two were getting dressed in the lockers. He should be here at any moment, especially if he uses his cursed form."

"His cursed form?" Ranko asked, "Why? Is he faster as a girl here?"

"Well, not exactly," Akane reluctantly conceded, "But you'll see for yourselves as soon as Ranma gets here."

"Swell," Yuan-Yen said cautiously, "Only...what about 'Zashi-chan's other self? Is she gonna show up here at any minute?"

"I'd almost guarantee it," Akane said brightly, "Especially if my niece hears about you three. I'm sure Tinkerbell is going to want a closer investigation."

"Tinkerbell," Watazashi murmured faintly, "Why do I just somehow know that this isn't going to be about some island full of lost boys...?"

"Yeow!" a woman named Watazashi was saying at precisely that moment, ducking under the whizzing pass of a pair of double-bladed axes, which curled about like twin Frisbees to orient back towards their mistress, "Cut it out, Tink! I told you I don't know anything about it! I'm just as much in the dark about these rumors as you are!"

"LIAR!" cried Tinkerbell, her voice tingling and bell-like as she came bearing down upon her nominal "best friend" (and the source of so much personal vexation), "This is just the sort of thing you'd pull while denying it, 'Zashi! I heard it from Shade and Steel themselves that you were caught naked in the Gym with a pair of unfamiliar girls with your hands all over them, behaving like a bunch of shameless Hentai...!"

"I fail to see why you would be so upset about such a trivial thing, even if it were true," Watazashi replied while running as fast as she could to put some distance between her and the enraged ax-woman, "Which it most certainly is not since you can see that I have my clothes on and am most definitely not in flagrante delecto with anyone at the moment...!"

"So you say!" Tinkerbell snapped, the musical sound of her voice belying her rage, "But I know you better than to trust anything you say at face value! Selling those pictures of me in the NUDE wasn't enough for you! NO, you have to humiliate me in front of our whole class by acting like such a shameless, brazen hussy...!"

"For the last time!" Watazashi cried as she ducked around the base of a half-  
dead tree that had recently been struck by lightning, "It wasn't me! Don't you think I'd know enough not to get caught out in the open engaged in such compromising behavior? And besides, I swore off relationships after the last one! What's the matter with you, don't you trust me?"

The dead tree all but exploded into a shower of wood chips and fragments, and when the sawdust settled there was Tink standing there with her eyes glowering in dimly suppressed rage, her axes extended to her sides in an altogether casual level as Watazashi backed away, fairly alarmed that her friend was manifesting this much of a mad-on.

"In a word...No!" Tinkerbell said a little too calmly for Watazashi's liking.

She sensed that her antagonist was not buying it, Watazashi turned and ran like hell as Tinkerbell levitated (to the tune of magical bell-like tinkles) to follow after her with a vengeful look in her eyes that did not promise anything healthy if she should catch up with the fleeing Saotome. Seeing that reason was availing her for naught, Watazashi increased her speed and ran straight for the gymnasium, knowing that physical proof alone could spare her a rather painful reckoning should her pursing girlfriend persist in her unjust and totally unwarranted suspicions!

Unfortunately, being able to fly was giving Tinkerbell Tendo a most unsettling strategic advantage, so Watazashi reluctantly decided to tilt the odds more in her favor and pulled out something she only used in such emergencies, a black ball that she removed from concealment before lobbing gently over her shoulder with a friendly, "Heads up!" called out in warning.

"What the-?" Tinkerbell saw the projectile just barely in time to bring her axes up to ward herself against it, but the ball exploded on contact with the metal, forcing Tinkerbell to back away as she furiously kicked up a breeze with her blades to protect herself from the cloud of black pepper that erupted in the space between her and Watazashi. Within a few seconds she was out of danger of having her hypersensitive nerves be affected by the offending assault of the much-loathed spice cloud, but that was time enough for Watazashi to make a sprint for the gymnasium and rush inside before Tinkerbell could reorient upon her.

"Oh no you don't!" Tinkerbell snarled, redoubling her speed as she headed off to punish Watazashi for once more daring to upset her!

Inside the Gymnasium, at that very moment, Yuan-Yen as asking to be excused so that she could head off to use the facilities as her bladder was starting to annoy her. She promised Watazashi and Ranko that she would return in but a moment and left to do her business at the exact same time that another Watazashi ducked into the bathroom area with the intent of finding concealment. Meanwhile the Watazashi not native to this world decided that her beloved had the right idea and started to follow after her just as Tinkerbell came zooming in through the front entrance and spotted her, disregarded the odd way that Watazashi was dressed, and made a bee-line towards her intended (and wholly unsuspecting) prey.

Watazashi had only a momentary sense of impending danger in which to warn her to take evasive action, just instances before a whirling ax imbedded itself in a section of wall perpendicular to the space she would have occupied in another half-step. She whirled about to see a second ax gripped in the hand of a floating girl of exquisite and surpassing beauty, long amber hair curling about a delicate-seeming frame that was no more than five and a half feet of dainty near-perfection.

"Who...?" she gasped in astonished disbelief.

"That's as far as you go, 'Zashi!" the petite beauty cried in a musical voice as she angrily held her second ax at the ready, "We're gonna settle this between us once and for all, so get ready to have your ass whipped royal!"

Meanwhile Yuan-Yen looked up from where she was squatting in one booth of the privy and remarked, "I wonder what that could be?"

"Just my errant so-called 'best-friend' in the act of no doubt interrogating a fellow student," Watazashi's voice replied from directly above her.

"HUH?" Yuan-Yen looked up to see a girl who looked exactly like Watazashi (albeit wearing a Furinkan High school uniform) bracing herself against the walls of the booth like a human spider perched directly above her, affording her an excellent view of Yuan-Yen doing her "business." In slightly confused tones she said, "'Zashi-chan?"

"Eh?" she saw puzzlement in the face of the other girl, "Do we know each other? I'm rather sure I would have recognized a fair and radiant flower such as yourself had we met somewhere on campus..."

Yuan-Yen, unlike her notorious father, was well known for being quick on the uptake and not one to miss important clues in the heat of a crisis. Having the agile mind of her mother to assist her in putting the pieces together, she drew the right conclusion immediately and said, "Oh...you must be that other 'Zashi?"

"Other...?" Watazashi blinked her eyes in confusion.

Ranko heard the commotion going on outside the office and said, "What the heck...?"

"Oh," Akane smiled without the least hint of worry in her voice, "I guess Tinkerbell and Watazashi are here. Why don't we go and greet them while we're waiting for your father to arrive? I'm sure they'll both be dying to meet you."

Ranko said not a word as she followed this disturbingly kawaii version of her mother out of her office and into the scene of a war-zone as she saw Watazashi fighting for her life against a living buzz saw whose arms were flashing at blinding speed while the dark haired Saotome fended her off with a metal javelin pole that she had grabbed from an equipment stand at random. Ranko thought she detected what looked like double-bladed axes and was immediately reminded of some of the girls whom she had encountered yesterday, which led to the uncomfortable conclusion that the attacking girl was yet another cross parallel time relation.

"Hey!" she called out, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Eh?" the girl named Tinkerbell backed away to see who was calling out to her, unwittingly providing her opponent with a much-needed break that permitted Watazashi's hand to shoot forward as a ribbon all but magically appeared to ensnare the levitating girl, wrapping itself around Tinkerbell's arms several times as Watazashi gave a sharp tug and yanked her off balance.

"Hey, let me go!" Tinkerbell cried as Watazashi leaped towards her and in a blinding motion wrapped the rest of her up in her ribbon. The levitating girl fell heavily to the floor as she lost her grip upon her axes, allowing Watazashi to set one foot on her back with a smile of relish and triumph.

"Do you yield?" Watazashi asked.

"No!" Tinkerbell snarled, somehow managing to sound cute and kawaii as her voice just was not designed to sound all that ruthless or viscous.

"Dear me," a voice sounding very much like Watazashi's brought all attention about to see the second raven-haired girl walking alongside a much-surprised Yuan-Yen, "I never thought anyone could get away pulling a stunt like that on you, dear Tink-chan. Whatever would your fama say if she could see you now...and if only I had remembered to bring a camera."

"Zashi?" Tink ceased struggling as she saw the version of the Black Rose Kuno daughter with whom she was more familiar, then tried to angle her head to glance at the one standing over her with a bare foot planted on her back, "But...?"

"Well, well," the two versions murmured in unison as Watazashi turned to regard Watazashi, exchanging glances that were almost a mirror reflection of one another.

"Watazashi's in stereo?" Akane clapped her hands together and cried, "Neat!"

Yuan-Yen's eyes went from one Watazashi to the other, then she glanced down at the beautiful girl tied up on the floor and her eyes narrowed with suspicion, "Watazashi...!"

"Ah," the Watazashi wearing only borrowed gym clothes replied, hastily removing her foot from Tinkerbell's back as she sought to compose a most innocent expression, knowing full well that when Yuan-Yen used the full version of her name-and musically at that-it was a sure sign that explanations were a requirement and not an option, "Yuan-chan...this...um...young person and I..."

"Don't bother explaining, sister," the other Watazashi replied, glancing down at the girl on the floor with an amused expression, "As I was trying to tell you before, Tink, I wasn't the one caught behaving in a shameless manner.."

"Shameless?" Watazashi sniffed, "As if I would have anything to be ashamed about, being naked with my dear Yuan-chan. Isn't that right, darling?"

"Just as long as I'm the one you're being shameless with," Yuan-Yen growled back, but relented to accept the embrace her Watazashi offered her as concern replaced jealousy and she demonstrated her relief by rushing up to throw her arms around her dearest beloved.

Both Tinkerbell and the other Watazashi looked on with mild surprise evidenced in their expressions, but Ranko just smiled at them and said, "They're like that, you get used to it after a while..."

"Really?" a pleasantly feminine voice asked, "I definitely want to hear more about this! You get ahold of Grandpa Happy's magic lamp again, kid, or are you just dividing Asexually, after me and your mother told you not to?"

Ranko whirled about to see a flying girl with long blond hair tied into a braid and pointed "Spock" ears projecting out from the sides of her head, hovering in the air near to Akane with an amused, sardonic expression.

"Father?" the other Watazashi remarked, "I'm sorry...I guess I should make proper introductions, or at the very least offer some kind of explanation..."

"Don't bother," the blonde elf settled down next to Ranko, giving the redhead a curious lookover before nodding to Akane, "Your aunt already told me over the cell phone what was up, and that we had visitors, one of whom looked a lot like you, only I can see she brought a friend."

"Father?" the Watazashi that was holding Yuan-Yen close to her person asked in a questioning tone of voice as she looked the elf up and down before saying, "This...is your cursed form?"

"Depends on what you mean by a 'curse,'" the elf smiled back, "I'm Saotome Ranma, and I guess your name's also Watazashi?"

"It is," Watazashi became somewhat more formal, "I'm your...daughter on a parallel world somewhat similar to your own, and this is my good friend...my VERY good friend, Yuan-Yen..."

"Tendo," Yuan-Yen smiled, "Pleased to meet you...Uncle Saotome."

"And you're...?" the blonde elf turned to the redhead.

"Saotome Ranko," she replied, "I'm-ah-also your kid...only in my world you married Akane..."

"Oh yeah?" the blonde turned to smirk at Akane, who smiled back at him in a kawaii manner, "I think I'd love to hear more about how that happened. I hear you guys made quite an entrance when you popped in a while ago..."

"Um, yeah," Ranko scuffed a bare foot on the smooth wooden floor, "That was...kinda my fault, I guess...I kinda...well...did it by reflex and..."

"Say no more, or even less!" Ranma waved a hand, "Only a Saotome would have the balls to flash an entire gym class in the middle of one of our school's practice games. That's proof enough for me to believe that you guys are on the level. So...what brings you to our neck of the woods, so to speak?"

"Ah...this thing," Ranko touched the pendant on her chest, "It's kinda magical and..."

"Look, this is fascinating and all that," Tinkerbell said in tones that chimed musically with little bells, "But do you think you could bloody well untie me now that we know who everybody is? I promise I won't attack you again, 'Zashi..."

"Ah," her Watazashi mused, "But you look so KAWAII all tied up like a present for me to unwrap at my leisure..."

Tinkerbell began thrashing and fighting to liberate herself from the ribbon as she snarled, "I take it back! Let me up from here now or I'm gonna chew your ass off right now, you Hentai-!"

"Now, now," the Watazashi of another world replied, kneeling down to tug on one end of the ribbon, which undid the bow-tie and caused the whole ribbon to come loose again, "There's no need for threats of violence against anyone. We're all friends here, correct? It was just a minor misunderstanding, no harm done and all that..."

Tinkerbell got to her feet, removing the last of the ribbon as she frowned, but silently retrieved her axes and slung them back into their usual hiding place. She turned to her Watazashi and said, "She's another you all right! The same insufferable Saotome smugness..."

"That's my girl," the blonde elf smirked, "A real chip off the old DNA strip. Your mother would be so proud if she were here...unfortunately she's still out shopping, so I guess she'll just have to take my word on it until I get a chance to show you off to her. That is, I'm assuming you kids have nowhere else to go for now, so you might as well come spend the night at our place."

"Father..." Watazashi hesitated, exchanged looks with her counterpart, then said, "I am just as fascinated at the concept of meeting another who is just like me as you are, but I am a bit concerned about the manner in which these three arrived in our...dimension? Yes, I believe that is the correct term..."

"Parallel Universe would be more precise," the other Watazashi explained, "We are in the same dimension in that we each share the same length, height, width and temporal structure, but beyond the first four dimension of Einsteinien relativity one encounters the larger framework in which our dimension expands out to a mathematical twenty-two, at least as goes the current stature of Quantum Theory..."

"You're conversant with modern Scientific theory?" the Watazashi of this world asked in surprise and fascination.

"It's something of a hobby of mine," the Watazashi of another world replied, "Part of being the heir to the Anything Goes school involves understanding the principles that govern what we call-for lack of a better term-the general reality of our existence, for often we use principles that seemingly violate normal rules of time and space in the course of our training..."

"Yes, I can see the advantages," the Watazashi of the home team nodded, "If you are to violate a rule of Science, it pays to first understand what rule you are violating, though it is often possible to violate the same rule without even knowing that one is doing so..."

"Yes, like Yuan-chan's father does all the time..." the visiting team Watazashi expounded.

"Are you getting all this?" Tinkerbell asked of the girl named Yuan-Yen.

"Partially," Yuan-Yen replied, "I'm not as up on science as 'Zashi-chan. My specialty tends to be Economics..."

"Yeah?" Tinkerbell remarked with surprise, "That's usually 'Zashi's field of expertise..."

"Look, can we just get back to the subject?" Ranko asked in mild exasperation, "It's awfully nice of you to offer us a place to stay tonight...sir...but I don't know if we'll be able to stay around that long. This thing I'm wearing...well...it seems to have a mind of its own, and it sometimes causes me and my friends to jump without warning, which is how we wound up jumping from a hot tub to the gym floor..."

"Yeah, I'd like to see that a little more closely, if you don't mind," the blonde elf version of Ranma reached out a hand, only to pause as the amulet around her neck started pulsing slightly in the large gemstone set in its center, to which Ranma remarked, "Uh oh...looks like my device is recognizing yours. That must mean that they're both of Amazon manufacture."

"Amazon?" Ranko replied, when all of a sudden she noticed a familiar distortion field kicking up around her vision, causing everything to briefly be distorted in a rainbow-like prism, "Oh no...it's happening again!"

"Uh oh..." Yuan-Yen glanced down at her hands, seeing a familiar transparency, "I just knew this was gonna happen!"

"What the...?" Tinkerbell cried as she gazed down at herself, "Hey! I can see right through me!"

"Tink?" Watazashi turned to see her friend begin to fade away on her, causing her to react with alarm, "TINK!"

"Not again," Watazashi turned around, "Ranko-dear...you have got to be more mindful..."

That was as far as she got before she and the others faded out altogether, leaving only the Watazashi native to this world untouched as she glanced in alarm at where her companion had been standing and passed her arms through the now-empty space, crying, "TINK-chan? Where are you? What just happened? Father...?"

"Don't look at me!" her father immediately protested, "I didn't do nothing!"

"I think the pendant did it by itself," Akane realized with mild dismay, "But why did it also take my niece along with them?"

"I don't know," the blonde elvish Ranma stroked her pointed chin with a thoughtful expression, "That Ranko kid seemed to think the thing was alive and had a mind of its own, but I'm thinking it must have reacted to my bracer...this is definitely weird! Maybe I should go visit the old woman and see if she has any ideas on the subject."

"But where did they take Tinkerbell?" Watazashi asked with clear distress in her voice, "And why didn't they also take me with them?"

"Maybe you were one too many Watazashis," Ranma replied, "Maybe it didn't think it needed a duplicate copy. Who knows? I'm sure not an expert on this stuff."

"Oh my," Akane remarked, "Kasumi and Perfume aren't going to be very happy to hear that their daughter went off in the company of some strangers. What are we going to tell them, Ranma?"

"Hey, nothing to worry about," Ranma smirked in a way that was typical, regardless of which version of her one might deal with, "She's in the company of two Saotomes...that just doubles the odds in her favor..."

"You mind explaining that one to me, Creampuff?"

Akane, Ranma and Watazashi turned to see who had just addressed them, and then Akane put a hand to her mouth and said, "Oh my..."

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Continuous Feedback Loops: shadowmane

Confused by it all yet? Well, we've just gotten started! Now four timecrossed youths are on a journey of discovery, but what will be the outcome of their eventual travels? And what of our wayward Time Agents, hot on their trail but just as misdirected as a Hibiki on a Merry-go-round? To learn the answer to this and other questions you're just going to have to keep on reading, but I promise to keep things light and entertaining...for now! (Hey, this isn't a darkfic after all...I did enough of that last series!) Tune in again as Nabiki, Ranma and Ryoga have a close encounter of the odd kind, while the kids encounter some old friends on a parallel world and things start to become even more complicated...be there!

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	5. Chapter 5

RanSquare4

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the Works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
Including the alternate worlds and characters created by fellow fanfic writers Dreiser[aka: Nicole Manders]  
and Ross McKenzie [Creator of the original Convergences Series])

Continuum # 78924615

"I am seriously starting to dislike that pendant."

Ranma glanced over at his iinazuke, seeing Nabiki's sour expression as she stared resolutely at the other side of the counter, not looking at anything in particular but generally conveying a sense of her complete annoyance.

"Okay," Ranma reluctantly conceded, "So this is another dead end. Ya gotta admit it looked promising enough...at first."

"Oh sure," Nabiki snorted, glancing at another version of Ranma, who had passed out from too much sake and was slumbering like a baby, "We wind up in a world where you lost your match to the Gambler King, costing Ukyo her restaurant and my family our home and dojo. Then Picolet Cardin showed up to collect on a bet my Dad made before any of us were even conceived and my counterpart wound up marrying him, thus sparing my family from financial ruin, while you went off and married Kuonji and started up a new restaurant together. You have a son named Ryo who's seventeen and already studying to be a doctor, like Tofu-Sensei. Over all a perfectly nice, sensible alternate timeline, but no sign at all of either Ranko or the pendant."

"I didn't really lose to that Gambler Fink," Ranma groused sourly, "You know the guy cheats...it's must my doofus counterpart here didn't cheat back when he was able."

"I'm sure Ryonami didn't deliberately send us to the wrong coordinates," Ryoga began to say when the loud snore coming from the woman leaning against his arm interrupted him, causing Ryoga to glance down awkwardly at the slumbering Akane.

"Oh yeah, that's another thing," Nabiki resumed, "When you LOST the match AND the dojo, Daddy called off the engagement deal, so on this timeline my little sister never married and went on to found her own dojo after a number of private adventures of her own. She had one kid out of wedlock from some guy...from the haunted woods-my bet's on that Shinnosuke guy- and named the kid Peorth, while Kasumi's daughter is named Belldandy, or Bell-chan (and never mind how often we keep running into different versions of her by the same name), who's engaged to marry Kuonji Ryo, thus ironically fulfilling the pledge to unite the houses, end of story."

"Gosh," Ryoga noted, "When you tell it like that, it almost sounds like the plot to a Manga."

"Yeah, right," Ranma snorted dismissively, "Like anybody's gonna buy the idea that I lost to that Gambler Creep, let alone that big-mouthed Cardin!"

"Would you mind for once not putting yourself in the main Hero's spot, Saotome," Nabiki said in annoyance, "This is really starting to get to me the way that pendant seems to not only anticipate our moves in advance but to keep flashing us these false leads that misdirect us. I hate admitting being outfoxed almost as much as you hate the idea of losing..."

"I didn't lose!" Ranma insisted, giving a sour glance at his counterpart, "It's that Baka next to you who's the loser..."

"I wouldn't call him that, Sugar," a familiar Kansai accented voice replied, causing the three Time Agents to turn around and see the woman standing behind them, smirking as if she were trying to guess at a private joke with only half the punchline.

"U-Ucchan?" Ranma stammered in disbelief.

"Well, well," Ukyo looked him up and down before turning an affectionate gaze at her slumbering husband, "I'd really love to ask how you pulled this one, Sugar, but I guess this is one of those times I'll be better off not knowing. You three look an awful lot like the people I know, but...there's something different about you that doesn't quite seem right, and from the way you're talking about magic time-traveling pendants..."

"You know about that?" Ryoga almost sat up but for the way Akane clung to his arm in her sleep, compelling him to remain seated.

"My son, Ryo, told me all about this really wild adventure he had involving a magic Pendant that took him to see his father and me before the two of us got married," Ukyo replied as she approached the bar and her recumbent husband, "Doesn't take a genius to figure out you three must be travelers looking for that pendant, but I'm afraid it happened months ago, so you're out of luck, Sugar."

"A cold trail?" Nabiki frowned, "That thing snookered us by flashing a dimension it had already been to once before?"

"Makes sense," Ranma noted, "If it had already mapped out this timeline then it would know enough to be able to send one of those echo-projections of itself either backwards or forwards, right? Like leaving a false trail in the woods to confuse your enemies..."

"You sound pretty sharp for a version of my Ranchan," Ukyo mused as she picked up the unconscious Ranma in her arms and slung him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry (notably NOT the shoulder from which her trademark bakers peel was projecting by the handle).

"I get by," Ranma said, "You need any help with that lug, Ucchan?"

"No thanks, Ranma-honey," she smiled as she easily balanced the larger Ranma across her broad shoulders, "This isn't the first time I've done this with my husband when he's had too much to drink...or Akane either, for that matter."

"You don't mind that the two of them were out drinking late?" Ryoga asked.

"Why should I mind?" Ukyo asked, "Akane's Ranchan's best friend, has been since they stopped being engaged together. I know that whatever was between them's a thing of the past now, and besides, the big lug wouldn't have the guts to cheat on me...not and get away with it anyhow."

"You seem to be taking it in stride that we three are not the people whom you remember," Nabiki noted with her trademark coolness.

"Sugar, you see as much wild stuff as I have just hanging around with Ranchan and you try being surprised by anything that happens," Ukyo eyed her wryly, "Don't judge him too harshly, though...he's not usually such a heavy drinker, but sometimes he gets kind of moody and cranky, especially when he remembers stuff like the Gambler King. He's a proud man, my Ranchan, and he hates losing just as much as you do. Hasn't lost any major fights ever since, not counting that Picolet guy, and everything seems to have pretty much worked out for you on that end..."

"What?" Nabiki bristled, "Me married to that frog-faced Popinjay?"

"I suppose the fact that you have two kids by him shows how much you've suffered living the life of luxury, unlike us poor, hard working stiffs," Ukyo smiled in a dismissive manner, "Now, if y'all will excuse me, I got to put me a Hero to bed. Come the morning he'll have one beauty of a hangover, and that's when I'll go into my angry wife spiel, just 'cause I know it'll hurt a lot more the way I do it. Good luck finding that pendant thing. It caused enough trouble for my Ryo-chan that I don't want to see a thing like that running loose stirring up more trouble. Nice meeting y'all, but bye now."

So saying she staggered out of the bar with Ranma slung over her back, humming a merry tune all the while as the three Time agents watched her leave with blank expressions. After a full moment had elapsed, Ranma remarked, "Okay...so maybe he isn't such a loser..."

Nabiki turned a questioning look towards him while Ryoga gently extracted his arm from Akane. Ranma was nervously regarding his iinazuke and trying to think of something to add to his statement that might extract him from his predicament when Nabiki's com-pad beeped her, providing the timely save he so desperately needed.

"Tendo here, go ahead," Nabiki spoke into her wrist-gauge.

"Boss, I got it figured out!" came Ryonami's enthusiastic report, "The thing's got several coordinates mapped out in advance for possible timelines to visit, and I got a reading just now that's spiking it towards one of those pre-arranged destinations. Way I see it, the Pendant is really a Multi-dimensional transphasal anomaly that employs means very similar to that of the Nanban Mirror, which means it isn't really a pendant at all but a window into a Void that's inhabited by some kind of intelligence that's guiding things..."

"Whoah, slow down there, Ryo-chan," Nabiki urged, "An intelligence? What kind are we talking about here? Demonic? Devonic? Extradimensional?"

"Unknown," Ryonami said, "I'm still working on that part, but when I've get some feasibility tests run on the raw data then I may be close to giving you an answer. In the meantime you wanna check out that new lead or not?"

Nabiki glanced at Ranma and Ryoga then said, "Sure, why not? We've got nothing better to do at the moment."

"I'm setting up the coordinates now," Ryonami said, "Effecting transfer...now!"

The three agents felt a slight buzzing sensation, and then the familiar sense of shifting between temporal planes as they momentarily lost quantum resonance with their surroundings, only to lock in on a new resonance mere moments later, which turned out to be nothing like what they imagined.

"Huh?" Ranma glanced around at a wilderness setting that looked as though it had been used for a battlefield, "This don't look like any part of Nerima that I know...might not even be Japan..."

"It's China," Ryoga remarked, "I recognize these hills, or at least I know I've been here before. But I wonder what...?"

All of a sudden something huge came plowing down into the ground like a plummeting meteor, nearly shaking even Ranma off his feet, and then a huge creature came looming up out of a crater shaking emerald-hued fists in a threatening manner. The creature was nearly seven feet tall, incredibly muscled with short dark-green hair, and every inch of skin was jade...what could be seen of her beneath the torn and tattered clothing that she was wearing. In spite of the distortion to her features caused by the hardening and expansion it was still possible to make her out as she bellowed in their faces and cried out in angry tones, "AKANE SMASH!"

"A-Akane?" for once even Nabiki was too stunned to have any sort of reaction as a fist the size of a large melon came orienting towards her head, only Ranma reacted for the both of them and interposed himself in the way, taking the full force of the punch, which knocked him flying backwards!

"Akane?" Ryoga stared in disbelief of the emerald giantess that bore only superficial resemblance to the Akane that he remembered.

"AKANE KNOW STUPID RANMA TRY INTERFERE WITH AKANE!" the burly Akane declared as she shook her hands to the sky and roared her defiance to the heavens, "NO STAND IN AKANE'S WAY! AKANE IS STRONGEST ONE OF ALL!"

"Akane!" Ryoga tried more persuasively, interposing himself in the path of the emerald giantess, "Please calm down, Akane! Nobody's going to hurt you, there's no reason for you to be angry or excited..."

"Ah...what about them?" Nabiki pointed as half the Home Defense Force itself seemed to appear at that moment from just over the horizon.

"Ah...well...maybe those guys," Ryoga reluctantly conceded.

"THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, EMERALDESS!" a voice thundered over a microphone projector, "SURRENDER NOW AND PREPARE TO BE DATED!"

"K-Kuno?" Ranma gasped as he forced himself to stand up from where he all but become imbedded in the ground, "When did he join the army...?"

All at once Ryoga felt the huge hands of the Incredible Akane as she reached out to draw him into her arms, then in an almost tender voice she cried, "Akane know little P-chan is friend. Akane no let stupid Kuno and his toy solders hurt her P-chan! Akane take P-chan somewhere safe where we be alone...away from SOLDIERS!"

And with that she bunched powerful muscles the size of ancient oak branches and launched herself into the sky with a powerful leap that even terrified Ryoga, who yelped in dismay as the two of them began rocketing off as though shot out of a cannon. In three prodigious leaps the green skinned Akane bounded off with Ryoga and vanished into the nearby hills as suddenly and dramatically as she had made her fateful entrance.

Ranma and Nabiki stared in stunned disbelief as they heard the voice over the microphone cry, "SHE HAS GIVEN US THE SLIP AGAIN, BUT WE WILL NOT CASH SUCH A FALSE ACCOUNT! AFTER HER, MY LOYAL TROOPS! IN THE NAME OF THE KUNO FORTUNE, WE WILL CAPTURE THE FAIR WENCH OR PERISH IN THE EFFORT!"

Ranma waited until the last of the troops had departed before finally saying, "Well...at least some things in the Multiverse are a constant."

Nabiki touched her wrist-com and said, "Ryo-chan...!"

Ranma winced. When Nabiki started to hum the words like that it was a sure sign that a full-scale evacuation of the immediate area was called for!

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" Ryonami cried, "You guys didn't go to the same coordinates that I specified! There was some kind of divergence that interfered with the transfer!"

"A divergence?" Nabiki frowned, "Care to explain that?"

"I wish I could!" Ryonami assured them, "It was like...the minute you started to close in some kind of a pulse flashed on my screens, and suddenly you veered off by several whole factors!"

"Sounds like there may be more to this Pendant thing than I even dared to suspect," Nabiki mused grimly, "Maybe you better finish running those tests before we try another transfer. Let me know as soon as you have anything, Nabiki out."

"Looks like this ain't such a simple case of hunting down an anomaly after all, huh?" Ranma mused grimly.

"If anyone can get to the bottom of this, Ryo-chan will do it," Nabiki gave her iinazuke a concerned look, "You okay, Ranchan? That last punch almost looked like it was going to send you to the Earth's core."

"Just about felt that way," Ranma rubbed his jaw and winced, "I don't even remember it hurting that much when our Akane...well...never mind. What do you think she's gonna do with Ryoga?"

"Difficult to say, really," Nabiki considered, "I suppose we could go after him and find out. He might be useful to use later."

"After all that me and the Baka have been through, I'd kinda hate to lose him like this," Ranma mused, albeit grimly, "I guess maybe I owe him a little save, though it's his own fault if she tries getting fresh with him or anything weird like that."

"At the very least this should not be dull," Nabiki mused as she took his hand, and then the two of them faded out from the clearing...

Continuum #472193567

"Hey, give me a break, will ya?" Saotome Rinse cried out as she dodged another bolt of concentrated Chi-energy, flipping over a rail as she sought to put distance between herself and her airborne attacker.

"HOW COULD YOU!" cried Misaki Ryeka, nominally one of Rinse's closest friends (and occasional sparring partner), who was now in hot pursuit of the fast-moving purple haired girl, her own blue hair flying in the breeze as she speeded up to catch her, "How could you get engaged like that and not tell me about it? How could you!"

"How could I what?" Rinse replied, totally mystified by her friend's odd behavior, "It wasn't even like it was my idea! Dad announced it to us kids yesterday when he told us what the Adults had decided! It's not like I wanna marry Ryoukio, or nothing weird like that! It's just some stupid honor pledge they came up with! It's not like he could ever even defeat me like a proper Amazon betrothal-YIKES!"

She barely dodged in time as Ryeka teleported into her path and stood with arms braced as if daring Rinse to cross her. Her eyes were almost glowing with outrage as she cried in disbelief, "You mean you just let them up and engage you like that? You didn't even make a protest?"

"Of course I protested!" Rinse declared angrily, "What, do you think I just went along with it when they made those stupid pronouncements? I fought it tooth and nail, but you know how much the old folks listen to us! It's not like I wanna have any stupid engagements right now, and to a boy of all things! It's just-  
GAK!"

Her words were cut off when the familiar scorch of lightning missed the spot nearest to her, forcing Rinse to duck around behind Ryeka, who was better insulated against such attacks anyway, even as the Princess Moroboshi Atari alighted down to earth in her Tiger-striped bikini, long hair flowing as she eyed Rinse with a cool sense of disapproval.

"Darling," she cooed dangerously, "What's this I hear about you getting engaged to your own cousin, and without informing me of this?"

"I ain't your darling, Atari!" Rinse tried being reasonable, knowing in her gut that she was doomed in the effort, "And like I just got done telling Ryeka here..."

Lightning crackled about the green haired half-alien girl's supple body as she raised both fists and said, "Why must you always be so difficult? You know that you belong to me alone, darling, but still you flirt with this...this half-breed Juraian..."

"Who are you calling a half-breed, Oni?" Ryeka shot back in what looked to be another impending catfight that held the potential to destroy considerable real estate and leave Rinse feeling like she had gone through a cement grinder.

Fortunately for her reason prevailed in the form of her cousin, Kuno Tachi, who came trotting along in her usual high spirits, taking it all in with a glance before saying, "Honestly, Cousin...must your fianc es brawl like common tramps, in full public and without Pay-Per-View Satellite options?"

"Fianc es?" Rinse cringed, "Whose side are you on, Tachi?"

"Why, my own of course," Tachi replied, "I guess you didn't explain things to the girls properly, did you? How typically Saotome-ish..." she grinned, "What the Parental Units actually said is that you and Ryoukio are only provisionally engaged in lieu of your accepting someone else as your iinazuke."

"WHAT?" both the blue-haired Ryeka and the green-haired Atari looked at Tachi with matching expressions, while Rinse just gazed on, totally bewildered.

"After all," Tachi continued suavely, "The idea is to engage you to the most prominent fighter and heir to a rival school with whom the Anything Goes Ryu is allied. Aunt Ukyo and Uncle Ryoga have produced a strong fighter in the form of their son, but since you are half-Amazon, it stands to reason that you should not be compelled to surrender yourself to anyone who has not proven themselves to be the superior fighter. If one of you girls offered a proper challenge, and it was in turn accepted and matched by Ryoukio, then it may be possible to convince the Adults to switch the engagement to the one best qualified to carrying on the Anything Goes tradition."

"Most qualified, huh?" Ryeka slowly smiled, "That would be me!"

"In a pig's eye, you harridan!" Atari insisted, "Only I deserve to claim Rinse for my dearly intended!""

"Then you agree to have it out in a proper arena of challenge?" Tachi asked, "Say...back behind the schoolyard around 4 PM tomorrow after school?"

The two alien girls glared at one another before Ryeka said, "Fine with me! It's about time we settle this between us."

"Make peace with your ancestors, Blue-hair," Atari retorted, "Only I will walk away as Darling's true and proper fianc e!"

So saying the green-haired girl launched herself into the sky, shooting out a trail of electrical sparks in passage, while Ryeka merely did a fade out, leaving a bewildered Rinse looking at her cousin as though Tachi were the one who had just sprouted horns and a tail.

"What the heck did you do that for?" Rinse gasped, "What...I don't understand...?"

Tachi rolled her eyes and sighed, "You really are a Saotome! I just bought you some time, and hopefully those two will be able to calm down and think rationally again when they think that there's still a chance of nailing your sweet hide to the mattress. Don't tell me you haven't been noticing that Ryeka's been getting sweet on you of late? She spends enough time with you, I thought even you could see this!"

"But I...she...what?" Rinse blinked, was silent for a long moment then said, "You're kidding! Me? But...?"

"Bad enough when you played that game of Tag with Atari and wound up grabbing her by the horns, which you damn well know has special significance to an Oni," Tachi continued, "Face it, Cousin, you've inherited your Dad's curse. You're not only a magnet for trouble but a real stud among the ladies."

"No way!" Rinse declared tonelessly, still trying to absorb the notion that Ryeka would have a crush on her, "But...we're both girls! I mean...?"

"You can still say that after what we went through yesterday?" Tachi inquired, "Remember those girls who said they had two mothers and no biological male father? Surely you're not objecting to the Lesbianism angle? After all, both of your mothers get along famously these days, or haven't you noticed?"

"But...married?" Rinse almost squeaked, "I mean...Sex I can go along with, but marriage...it's just so permanent...!"

"Look on the bright side," Tachi smiled, "You're always saying you hate boys. So...who did you think you were eventually going to wind up with?"

Rinse narrowed her eyes and frowned, "I seem to remember you weren't making too much of a protest when your folks engaged you to Brand. I suppose you like the idea of marrying your own cousin?"

"Ah...well..." Tachi lost her air of cocky self-confidence and stumbled verbally as she replied, "Brand...well...he's not really to blame for this and..."

"Uh-huh, right," Rinse told her best friend smugly, "So let's hear it again why you just told Atari and Ryeka that they could win my hand by fighting with me in the old school yard? Just what was that all about, huh?"

"Ah...well," Tachi smiled, "I thought it might give us some time to plan another way of stringing things out with those two while making a few yen on the sidelines. Besides, the old yard was about to be torn up anyway to make way for an Olympic-sized track and field to be built, so this way you're actually saving the school some money that could be spent in more appropriate areas..."

"And the fact that you happen to be school treasurer doesn't have anything to do with this, huh?" Rinse sniffed, "Lovely! My best friend isn't just out to get me killed by my would-be suitors, but she's got to get filthy rich off of me in the bargain! I can just see what the folks will have to say about this..."

"Maybe we can get them to think about this whole engagement business and see that it places an inordinate amount of strain on relationships that we would much rather settle for ourselves," Tachi reasoned, then paused before adding, "Or do you think, perhaps, that they'll bring up that old canard about how things worked out in the old days?"

"You mean the way I wound up with three parents?" Rinse asked, "Yeah, like parental Hypocrisy isn't at an all-time high on that score..."

"Hold up!" Tachi raised a hand and glanced around with a look of alarm.

"What is it?" Rinse was instantly on her guard, "You don't think somebody else is going to object to my engagement to Ryoukio, do you?"

"Only the half of our school who wants to date-LOOK OUT!" Tachi cried as suddenly several shapes took form above their heads, and the next thing they knew four bodies were tumbling down upon them.

"What the-?" Rinse barely managed to say before she found her vision obscured by a pair of gym-shorts that were presently occupied by a panic-stricken Ranko. The next instant her face made contact with Ranko's bottom and the two went down in a heap, while Tachi skillfully stepped to one side and missed having a similar encounter with her half-sister, Yuan-Yen.

Watazashi nimbly landed on her feet while Tinkerbell floated down to earth to the sound of musical, bell-like tinkles. She glanced around at where they were and then spoke in a voice that was equally musical and bell-like, "What just happened? We're back out in the school yard..."

"So I've noticed," Watazashi glanced around, "Furinkan and not Saint Hebereke."

"GET OFF OF ME!" Rinse growled as Ranko hastily scrambled to her feet, saw who she had landed on, and then the two of them at once cried, "YOU?"

"What are you guys doing here?' Tachi asked with matter-of-fact annoyance, "Haven't you gotten rid of that blasted pendant yet? You know what kind of trouble it caused us yesterday!"

"Things are somewhat more complicated than you realize...ah, Cousin?" Watazashi hesitantly ventured, trying to recall the precise parentage of the girl, whom she knew to be a Kuno, "I think it fair to say that matters were not completely resolved as we had thought with the completion of Akira's mission. Sister Ranko here appears to have been selected for some new manner of mission, and the rest of us have been drafted to the cause in what I take to be a non-random selection process...at least I don't believe it was random, judging that my counterpart was not selected."

"I'm getting tired of being bounded around by this stupid thing!" Ranko tore the pendant off from around her neck and was about to throw it away when suddenly a sense of weakness overtook her, and she glanced down at herself, seeing a certain transparency that did not resemble one of her dimensional transition states, "Wh-What...?"

"Oh my..." Watazashi's eyes got round and she hastily cried, "Put that back on at once, Ranko-chan! Recall what happened to your home dimension?"

Ranko did as instructed and at once her body returned to normal. As the weak spell left her she took several deep breaths and said, "Wh-what just happened?"

Watazashi approached her and said soothingly, "What I should have suspected all along, given the cunning nature of the pendant and its previous behavior. It allowed you to alter your own past, thereby nullifying your current existence. When you attempted to return to your home you found everything was in a state of temporal stasis, as if your reality had ceased to have active meaning. I had wondered why you were spared of the paradox factor, and now I know for certain. The pendant is insulating you from paradox, and so long as you continue to wear it..."

"Omigod," Yuan-Yen gasped, "You mean without that thing she might...cease to be?"

"Worse still," Watazashi said, "It would be as if you had never been, dear sister, and I don't know what that might entail for the rest of us, given your involvement in our affairs the previous day. We might all return home without memory that any of this happened, but I rather doubt this since it was the pendant that arranging everything past and present, and now it has effectively nullified any chance we might have of ridding ourselves of it altogether since without it you would cease to exist...at least as far as anyone could tell on that subject."

"I get it," Tachi remarked, "That thing is not only alive and intelligent but it's got some kind of grand master plan that must somehow involve the rest of us. It must have been juggling all of us through time and space to see which of us might best suit its purpose, then it chose that one to become its new wielder. That means it's gathering up select groups of people for another quest, meaning Rinse and me..."

"Oh, that's just lovely!" Rinse groaned, "Not only did my idiot parents engage me to Ryoukio and tick off my two most violent girlfriends in the bargain, but now I'm being drafted again to take another bouncy ride between dimensions? No thank you!"

"I somehow doubt that our willingness to participate is of much consequence to the pendant," Watazashi turned and indicated the girl standing slightly off to one side, "Oh, by the way, this is...a cousin of yours of the Tendo clan. Her name is Tinkerbell, and I suggest you do not laugh about this as she is a most deadly fighter."

"Tinkerbell?" Rinse asked of the honey-haired ax woman, disregarding the warning.

"You wanna make something of it, Purple-hair?" Tinkerbell glowered.

Ranko ignored the impending altercation and held up the pendant before asking, "Is this true? Did you trap me up so I'd have to rely on you just to exist? How could you?"

"Query," the pendant replied, "Subject designate Ranko is Master of this Unit, but this Unit will respond only to direct queries and instructions. This unit does have a purpose, but it is not adverse in nature, and this unit did not seek to cause distress to Mistress Ranko. The purpose of this Unit is to unite Mistress Ranko with the legacy of her birthright, after which Mistress Ranko need no longer fear that her continued existence will be dependant upon this Unit."

"What do you mean my birthright?" Ranko frowned, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You understand the thing?" Tachi asked in surprise.

"Huh?" Ranko looked at her, "Didn't you guys hear it?"

"No," Watazashi replied, "But that probably means that you have a direct linkage and it is keyed to you alone. I dare say that no other will be able to utilize that object while it is in your possession, and it may even be in our best interests to see that you continue to wield it as you are our most likely prospect for seeing our own homes when this is over."

"You mean we've got to help her if we're ever gonna get back to our own dimension?" Tinkerbell's musical voice was dismayed.

"Hey, don't look at me!" Rinse said, "I'm already on my home dimension!"

"But only for the moment, I suspect," Tachi reasoned, "You are the best fighter of our generation, the true heir to the Anything Goes school, and as such you have an obligation to meet each and every challenge that is given to you..."

"Since when did you quote the rule book on my life?" Rinse asked her, "Don't tell me you're planning to come with me?"

"But of course," Tachi said matter-of-factly, "Beside every great hero there's a wise man-woman-or sidekick, and I seem to fit the bill rather nicely. Besides, without me to watch over your back you'd just get yourself into more trouble and probably wind up with several more engagements."

"Like I don't have enough grief as it is?" Rinse rolled her eyes, "Okay, so what am I supposed to do? I mean, the rest of you guys can take care of yourselves, right? Why would you need another fighter?"

"A very good question," Watazashi mused, "Your skills differ somewhat from mine and those of Ranko, but we all three are the daughters of Saotome Ranma, each representing at least one of his fianc es. That would lead me to speculate that a group composed of the most divergent characteristics may be in the offing, smaller than the virtual mob we traveled with before, which means that the pendant is selecting individual traits that it deems most useful..."

"Like me?" Tinkerbell said, "I guess I'm sorta unique, and it doesn't look to me like any of you guys can teleport or fly..."

"Did I just hear the words 'Teleport' and 'Fly?'"

Rinse groaned, "Why me? Ryeka...what are you doing here? I thought we were gonna have a match tomorrow..."

Everyone turned to see a womanly figure with spiky blue hair hovering above the ground with hands on her hips and scowling in Rinse's direction. Even Tinkerbell looked impressed by this one, whose presence all but radiated power as her orange-colored eyes swept the others in a cold and predatory manner.

"A little voice in my head said I should come back and see what you were up to," Ryeka growled, "It figures that you'd be hanging out with a new crowd of odd balls that I've never seen before on campus. Bad enough that you hang around with that green haired Oni tart...!"

"Like you're anyone to point fingers at anybody, Peasant!" the green haired half-Oni in question said angrily as she appeared in the air near to the blue haired girl, almost manifesting an angry battle aura.

"Peasant?" Ryeka arched her tone dangerously, "I'll have you know I'm as much a Princess as you are! My mother is the heir to the throne of the Jurai..."

"And your other parent is the worst Space criminal to ever terrorize a thousand planets!" Atari shot back, "A good thing I listen to my hunches, which said you were not to be trusted, and here I see you stalking my Darling behind my back..."

Rinse turned to Ranko and said, "I've changed my mind. Can you get me out of here...like, real fast?"

"Uh...maybe," Ranko replied, "But what's the hurry?"

"You see those two?" Rinse pointed at the bickering Alien girls hovering in the air, oblivious to their surroundings, "Well, we're standing at ground zero, and in another minute this is not going to be a healthy place to hang around..."

"Oh," Ranko noted that the volume was intensifying between the green and blue haired girls, as were their battle auras, which were growing so bright that even a mundane person could have seen them, "Right. Well...how about it, Pendant? You gonna cooperate?"

"Specify desired destination," the Pendant spoke into her mind.

"I don't care!" Ranko replied, "Just as long as it's safe and no where around here, okay?"

The blue glow immediately surrounded both her and her companions, which unexpectedly (for Rinse anyway) included the two bickering aliens, who never even noticed the transition, so caught up with their heated exchanges about probable ancestry and likely sexual habits.

"Hey, not them too!" Rinse cried out too late as she, Tachi and the two alien girls joined the rest of the growing crowd that were forming the core basis for a party bound for a grand adventure.

"I have a somewhat dubious feeling about this," Tachi remarked before the group found themselves somewhere...elseward...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Calisthenics for Superheroes: shadowmane

And so the plot thickens, like miso mixed with curry powder, but what is the great purpose behind the Pendant, and why is it drawing these teenagers along for the ride? And-more importantly-whose Universe next will I raid for further adventurers? (Sinister laughter) Come along for the ride as we reach our next destination, and meanwhile back with the Timecops, we see Ranma and Nabiki attempt to close the gap while rescuing Ryoga from what might once have been P-  
chan's biggest fantasy or worse nightmare, and then off we go in another tale of high adventure...so be there when it happens! Ciao!

X -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	6. Chapter 6

RanSquared5

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
Including characters and concepts of fellow Fanfic Authors: Nicole Manders (Dreiser) &amp; D.B. Sommers)

Chapter Five.

Continuum: #59343921

Tendo Lylac stood at the threshold of the Daitokuji-Managi estate and waited patiently until the Servo-mech answered her summons, at which point she was admitted in through the foyer, at which point she removed her slippers and was greeted by one of the two Ladies of the estate, Beatrice Daitokuji-Managi, who was wearing a chef's apron and to all appearances seemed entirely domestic.

"Ah, Lylac-chan," Beatrice said by way of greeting, "You're a bit early to walk Ekko-chan to class, aren't you?"

"I got up a bit early this morning, Managi-san," Lylac smiled at the silver-  
haired older woman, "I thought I'd see what Ekko was up to since she didn't answer my calls last night and said something about being busy on another project when I Mailed her last night."

"You know," Beatrice said in mild surprise, "I don't believe she was even in her room last night. I had Waldo serve her breakfast in the study, but other than that I haven't really seen my daughter since early yesterday. Hey, Aiko-chan," she called over her shoulder, "Did you talk to our little Eileen at all yesterday?"

"Huh?" said a wiry redhead who was busy scanning the flat-screen table scanner while stuffing her face with an immense pile of breakfast food that had been prepared by Machine Droids, "The squirt? Naw, we haven't sparred since yesterday, and she gave me a raincheck for this morning, said something about it being important end-of-the-world stuff, which I guess means another science project. Takes after you a lot that way, she does..."

"Very true," Beatrice smiled fondly, "Why, I remember when I was her age how I wold stay up all night working on one of my latest projects, literally pouring my heart and soul into my newest creation..."

"Excuse me?" the redhead asked drolly, "Correct me if I'm wrong, Bee, but you usually did that when you were trying to kill me with some fancy gadget or other..."

"True," Beatrice admitted ruefully, "I was at a rather awkward stage of our youth, but it was a phase I grew out of when I decided that marrying you would be more fun than the alternative..."

"Fun she says," the redhead grumbled as she went back to reading the paper, "Well, the sprout's been busy all night, and that's as much as I wanna know about it. It's like trying to interest you in anything else when you've got a bug up your ass and want to invent the latest thing in Giant-Monster destroying mecha...""

Beatrice smiled and turned an amused look back at Lylac, "Would you excuse me for a bit?" she turned and walked over to and around behind the redhead, bending down to drape her arms around the other woman's neck as she rested her chin on her wife's shoulder before cooing in her ear, "Now, don't be like that this morning, Aiko. If I've been ignoring you in any way you should just come out and say so..."

"Who's feeling ignored?" the redhead said gruffly, but it was plain that her pretended indifference was just for the sake of appearances as she smiled at the silver-haired woman and said, "Anyway, I know how much your scientific stuff is important to you, and it puts a lot of bread on the table when we're not out monster hunting or doing other stuff together. Just be sure I don't feel too neglected, 'kay?"

"You have my word on that," Beatrice kissed the redhead on her cheek and added, "I didn't fight so hard to win you only to take you for granted and...Oh! Oh my! I just thought of something!"

"What?" the redhead turned to look at her silver-haired wife as Beatrice put a hand to her mouth with a most surprised expression.

"You don't suppose...?" Beatrice faltered, looked back at Alison Managi-  
Daitokuji with a shocked expression, "...that maybe Eileen has met someone whom she's interested in and the reason she's been working all night is because she's trying to invent a device to catch him...or her, whichever way she's oriented?"

"Catch him...or her?" Alison repeated, "You mean like...to get somebody on a date?"

"Well, that's how I originally courted you..." Beatrice began when her redheaded wife jumped to her feet with balled up fists and an outraged expression.

"Dating...at her age? Who is it? Who thinks they're good enough for my little girl? I'll kill 'em!"

"Calm down, Aiko-chan," Beatrice said soothingly, "Don't you think you're overreacting?"

"Beiko," Alison glared at her wife, "You do remember what you were like at her age, huh?"

"At...her age?" Beatrice paled, and suddenly her own fists were balled, "No way! Not until I've done a full background check to see if whoever it is has any right to even be looking at our little girl! Full bio-analysis, skin samples, genealogy, possible inherited risk factors, proctology examinations..."

"Uh..." Lylac politely spoke up, "If it's all the same to you, I'll just go look for Ekko myself, okay?"

"Oh of course," Beatrice waved a hand with a distracted expression, "And do tell her to wash up before she goes to her classes. At least five minutes in the sonic shower so she won't present too much of a hygienic dilemma for her classmates."

"I'll be sure to remind her," Lylac acknowledged as she hurried on into the house, past the brewing storm that was parental overprotectionism in full progress, musing to herself the wry thought that maybe her best friend might by some great stroke of fortune be adopted.

No chance, she knew...not with her Fama's acknowledged genius in being able to recombine DNA and artificially inseminate her chosen life-partner. Ekko's birth was a near-legend in Nerima, second only to the stories told about her own conception and birthing. It was said to be one of the few occasions when Beatrice Daitokuji-Managi was said to almost have a nervous breakdown playing the role of the expectant father while Alison Managi-Daitokuji had her baby...

She found Eileen Kent-Kane Managi Daitokuji sprawled out on the main floor of the Laboratory-study that formed a separate wing of the mansion, and as expected, Ekko was busy furiously scribbling out formulas and diagrams on the endless reams of paper that littered nearly every square inch of the floor. As she wrote by hand computer monitors were busy copying down and processing her figures while Ekko hardly seemed to take notice of the half-eaten plate of food at her side. It was plain enough to Lylac that she had been working for hours, most probably the whole night, and was only just coming near to completing work on her latest formula, hardly acknowledging Lylac at all until she finally cried out, "Eureka!"

"Aren't you supposed to be taking a bath when you say that?" Lylac asked rather dryly.

"I'm improvising," Ekko replied, showing not the slightest surprise upon discovering her presence, "Good morning, Lylac-chan, I heard Fama letting you in. It seems you may have caused me some slight bit of inconvenience with the Parental units, who now seem to be arguing about whether or not I should be dating or if they ought to be arranging for me to meet someone through means of a service."

"Sorry about that," Lylac replied, "So...what's it about this time? Don't tell me you really are looking to date someone in our class?"

"Hardly," Ekko replied, holding up the latest of her notes without taking her eyes off them even once during their conversation, "It was something you said to me yesterday that got me to thinking, about your travels through time to all of those parallel worlds..."

"Oh," Lylac glanced around at the strewn sheets of notations and immediately focused her gaze on one particular section, "Say, isn't that...?"

"Montel's Paradigm on Cross-Parallel Time Theory," Ekko replied without glancing at the section in question, "I was reviewing old notes in my head and thought I'd compare the various theories and formulaic projections that have been proposed over the years concerning travel between planes and the possible effects of dimensional and temporal interactions. It helped me to concentrate while I examined all of the factors of your story and reduced those singular events to alphanumeric notations on the general formula that I'm working on at the present."

"And to what end?" Lylac replied, "You've already won a Noble prize for your homeroom project last semester. Are you going for a second?"

"Actually I'm trying to make sense of something that does not add up in your story," Ekko replied, finally turning around to show Lylac the seriousness of her expression, "The object that you say was responsible for transporting two score youths across a dozen separate realities appears to have done so for a specific purpose, yet the only purpose that you could name with any certainty was to affect the outcome of one particular future where the Amazons were in danger. That seems like a lot of trouble to go to if it was only meant to ferry alternate versions of your parents through time in order to obtain a blood sample."

"I thought so too myself," Lylac nodded, "So, what have you come up with?"

"Well," the redheaded Ekko-who did indeed seem like a perfect blend of each of her parents best traits-glanced around at the room full of notations and said, "I had to approximate in some places, since your account of events was not complete in certain areas, the cause being that you were not present to witness all events connected to this matter..."

"Yes, go on," Lylac said, "You made some educated guesses, right?"

"In so many words, yes," Ekko reluctantly conceded before staring at the paper in her hand as though she were accusing it of crimes against nature, "And what I came up with as a tentative, hypothetical theory to account for this strange phenomena has left me greatly concerned that the matter is not entirely concluded. That pendant is still out there, I'm willing to stake odd on it, and it's effecting some grand master plan that might well affect the very flow of time itself in and around Nerima...or so I am theorizing..."

"Your theories are usually as good as a bet," Lylac replied, "If you think there's trouble brewing..."

"I'm almost certain of it," Ekko threw the paper down and started pulling off her clothes, "We haven't a moment to waste, if I am right. We must act now while we have some small hope of contributing to the outcome."

"We?" Lylac did not make comment on seeing her best friend tossing her clothes aside until she stood nude before her view, which gave the purple haired heir to the Anything Goes tradition a very nice view of a prime specimen of full-bodied womanhood go storming towards the nearest privy.

"I am making the assumption that you will want to accompany me, given the urgent nature of this business," Ekko did not bother shutting the door to the privy as she stepped into the sonic shower and activated it to full setting.

"Well..." Lylac glanced at her watch, then said, "We could be late for class if it takes too long..."

"Time is not an issue here," she heard Ekko call out over the hum of the sonic shower, "At least not in the normal sense. If I am correct, then we may conclude our business in plenty of time to be back and not miss classes, but the fate or reality itself could hang in the balance, so may I count on your full assistance?"

"Um...wellll..." Lylac shrugged, "Sure...I guess."

"Good," Ekko replied as she stepped out of the shower looking clean and refreshed in her full, naked glory. She immediately began pulling on a new school uniform while her old uniform was crated away by Servo-mechs. Ekko did not even break stride in putting on her stocks before smiling at Lylac and asking, "Are you ready?"

"Sure," Lylac replied as Ekko fetched a Datadisk from a terminal outlet, "But where are we going?"

"To the one person in the Province who can understand and help us solve this mystery," Ekko said, "We're going to visit Tenko's grandmother, Aunt Washu."

"Washu?" Lylac replied faintly as she followed Ekko for the door, murmuring faintly, "Oh, this is just lovely..."

As the purple haired girl followed the redhead out the door, Beatrice and Alison looked in from their place of concealment, and then the latter asked, "What do you suppose all that is about?"

"I'm not sure," Beatrice noted the calculations and formulae spread out upon the floor and said, "Something to do with timetravel and cross-parallel world theory, I think..."

"Not that, dummy," Alison snorted, "I mean the way those two were carrying on together. You don't think...?"

"Maybe..." Beatrice smiled, "They do get along awfully well together, don't they? I only wonder if either of them has a clue about the possible implications..."

Alison sniffed, "Well, the kid's all right, and we know the parents well enough. I just hope she treats Eileen right, or else..." she made a fist and slammed it in the palm of her other hand, producing a noise rather like the shattering of a tall redwood, to which Beatrice only smiled in silent agreement...

Continuum: #74928631

"Stand down, varlet!" the fierce warrior wielding the hammer demanded of Ranma, who was still recoiling from the last Mega-jolt encounter he'd suffered when it had struck him, "Or I'll give you another taste of my fury for daring play such a base imposture!"

"Man, this sucks!" Ranma growled as she ran the back of his fist against his chin and glared at the other man, who bore his exact likeness in face, but with muscles that stood out like ripe melons and long pale hair that was coarsely braided, "Can't you guys just give it a rest and take it for granted that we're just passing through and we don't want any trouble from you lot?"

"A likely claim coming from one who bears my likeness!" the Thundergod declared, waving his giant croquet mallet like an accusing finger, "Who are you who dares pretend that he is Saotome Ranma, good friend and loyal ally to Rayden, the God of Thunder?"

"Rayden, huh?" Ranma snorted, "Well, I've met the real Rayden, and he looks nothing like you..."

"INSOLENT CUR!" the Thundergod cried as he drew back with his hammer again and prepared to toss it, when Ranma moved forward and caught the thing with both hands and halted its forward momentum.

"I've had enough of this!" Ranma growled, and a moment later his eyes started glowing from within, "And I've had enough out of you! I tried doing this nicely, but you force my hand, Poser!"

"Eh?" the Thundergod reacted with alarm as he felt the power being leached out from his magical weapon as the man before him seemed to grow stronger by the second, prompting the one called Rayden to ask, "What manner of man art thou?"

"I AM SAOTOME RANMA OF THE ANYTHING GOES SCHOOL OF MARTIAL ARTS!" Ranma cried with a voice that rang like thunder, and with a massive effort he tore the hammer out of the other man's hand, momentarily withstanding the arc of lightning that played all around before turning the fury of that energy back upon Rayden, who was knocked sprawling, and a moment later he lay on the ground in the midst of a smoldering crater...only not the same man with whom Ranma had been fighting for the better part of the past five minutes.

"Eh?" Ranma glanced down to find the hammer, too, had changed into a plain walking stick, just as his opponent had gone from a virtual walking mound of muscles to a slender young-seeming man who looked otherwise like Saotome Ranma, "That was weird...Hey, Nabiki! Did you see that?"

"I'm a bit busy at the moment, Saotome!" Nabiki called out, weaving a spell with her hands to counter the attack of her own sparring partner, who was hurling Probability-altering bolts in her direction. Nabiki's form seemingly blurred, and suddenly she was behind her assailant, reaching out with the tip of one finger to touch her sleep-spot and send the so-called "Scarlet Witch" off to dreamland.

Ryoga was just finishing off with his own opponent, the ultra-heavy, super-dense "Vision," who closely resembled him for all his weirdly colored visage, so that the thought of using some of his more aggressive assaults did not seem like a palatable option. Instead he waited for the android to attack before touching a hand to the ground and crying, "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The cloud his blast kicked up momentarily distracted the android, enough for Ryoga to get behind the thing and strike at what he sensed was a weak-spot, momentarily disabling the artificial life form as it shut itself down to immediately effect internal repairs.

"Is that it?" Ranma surveyed the battleground, "Did we get everybody? Nobody left out by accident, were they?"

"I think so," Ryoga glanced at Nabiki, "You sense anything, Nabiki-san?"

"Only that I'm seriously pissed about this whole business," Nabiki snorted, looking down at her unconscious opponent, who was a dead ringer for her much-  
beloved older sister, Kasumi, "That Pendant and me are gonna have some words when I get my hands on it..."

"That's if we get our hands on it," Ranma tossed the walking stick to his own fallen opponent, "Good thing this guy only knew the basics of Saotome martial arts. What's the deal with these guys anyway? Where'd they get this weird powers from if they're supposed to be just like us?"

"I'm looking that up right now, Ranma-kun," Nabiki replied as she studied her portable com-pad, "I'm not sure that this world is in our registry, but if central has any record of its history...aha! So...this is interesting, in a weird kind of way..."

"What?" Ryoga asked, looking at the robotic double of himself that he had found so disturbing in the likeness of an android, then at the sleeping form of a half-naked Akane, reduced in size from the green colossus he had been abducted by earlier.

"According to what I've gathered so far," Nabiki began, "The history of this world is pretty different from what we remember on our world. Here Japan had open contact with the West a lot earlier in the Tokugawa era, and so the Meiji period happened a lot sooner, and Japan became a colonial power long before World War One happened. We influenced the west a lot more and a lot earlier, and we weren't allied with the Nazis either. A Doctor Seiji Nakamura founded something called the Kishin Corps to stave off an alien invasion using advanced designs for primitive mecha long before such things were technically feasible...and Japan helped the United States create the Atom bomb, so we were involved in an early form of alliance with them to stave off the regime of Joseph Stalin in Russia..."

"And what's all that got to do with this bunch?" Ranma wanted to know.

"Quite simply," Nabiki said, "Doctor Saotome Genma, physics engineer, working on concert with General Kuno (Thunderbolt) Godai, created a new weapon to maintain the Cold War called the Gamma Bomb, which was being open-air tested in the Nevada desert under the supervision of Security Directorate Representative Tendo Soun. My sisters and I were also present on that field test, as was Doctor Saotome's invalid son..."

"D-D-Doctor Saotome?" Ranma sputtered, "POP? A DOCTOR?"

"Wait a minute," Ryoga said, "What was that about his son being an invalid?"

"The Ranma in this world suffered a training accident while still a young boy and it left him crippled in one leg..."

"What?" Ranma reacted only a little less violently to this revelation as he turned to look at his counterpart, "You mean all this time I was fighting with a Feeb-"

"AHEM!" Nabiki ahemed in a rather significant manner, causing Ranma to rethink the rest of his statement.

"Ah..." he winced, "A differently abled person?"

"That's better," Nabiki glared at him, "Last thing we need is for Central to slap us with a censure label for derogatory references to handicapped persons. Now...as I was about to say, we-meaning out counterparts here-were all present at that testing range when someone noticed a fellow walking out onto the area, lost as usual, and three guesses who I'm talking about here..."

"Ah..." Ryoga winced slightly.

"Well, it was one minute to bomb detonation, so naturally everyone wanted to halt the timer, but General Kuno would have none of it, so it was up to my impulsive little sister to hop in a jeep and try to warn Ryoga that he was just a mile shy of ground zero, and she managed to get him to cover right when the bomb went off and caught her with a full-force Gamma burst..."

"Geez," Ranma winced, "I'm surprised she wasn't vaped by that!"

"Apparently there was something very unusual about this gamma burst," Nabiki frowned, "It had an unpredictable effect on living tissues, and since me and Kasumi foolishly rushed out of cover to try and stop our little sister, we also got affected, while those who remained behind in the shelter came through with no cellular damage. It seems that the effect for my counterpart was to give me the ability to heighten my speed to superhuman levels," she glanced at her fallen counterpart, who was wearing lightning symbols on her costume, "While Kasumi gained the ability alter probabilities. It was Akane who had the worst of it, though...it appears her adrenal glands were given a metamorphic boost that combined with other changes in her atomic structure and nervous system, turning her into that big green monster we first met a while ago whenever she gets angry."

"That figures," Ranma sniffed, "She was scary enough whenever she was angry in her normal mode..."

"But what about Ranma?" Ryoga asked, "Did he change also?"

"No, he was in the shelter, like I said," Nabiki replied, "But later on he made a pilgrimage to Mount Fuji and somehow wound up in a cave where he found that walking stick, which turns into a hammer when he strikes the ground with it, transforming him into the human avatar for the god, Rayden..."

"Oh," Ranma said, then blinked, "Okay, that's it! This is getting weird even by my standards! You mean he's the one with the hammer in this Universe, and he turns into a God of Thunder? Then why the heck does he sound like Kuno spouting all those nonsense fancy phrases?"

"Must be a side effect," Nabiki reasoned, "A partial personality overlay, or something like that." She smiled before adding coyly, "What's the matter, Ranma-kun? Never thought of yourself as the Godly type before?"

"Uh...well..." he noticed the odd look she gave him and felt along the edges of his collar.

"Anyway," she resumed-if a bit too casually, "Ryoga also got transformed into a literal energy being who goes by the name Wonder Man, but enough about this Universe's weird distortions. It's time we got back on track going after the cause of all this meandering through time and...yes, Ryonami?"

"Boss, I got it!" Ryonami spoke through Nabiki's wrist-com, "The pendant is really a devise of some sort working for a larger intelligence that's controlling its movements. The reason we can't nail it down is because it's programmed to be temporally evasive, which means moving to head it off in advance won't work unless we have a point of triangulation."

"Triangulation," Nabiki said thoughtfully, "Go on."

"Instead of trying to move ahead to where it's in motion," Ryonami continued, "Why not go back to a point where it's already been and trace it down along it's own sideways projections?"

"Not a bad idea," Nabiki mused, "Can you give us a place to start?"

"Already feeding in the coordinates now, Boss," Ryonami said, "Your next transfer should take you to the scene of the crime, and from there it's up to you."

"Swell," Nabiki nodded as she and her companions experience the tell-tale sensation of dimensional transfer.

To their surprise they found themselves in a school gymnasium that looked more than slightly familiar to the three Timecops. They turned to see a group at the far end of the gymnasium, one a version of Akane who was wearing a sweatshirt, shorts and sneakers with a whistle about her neck talking to a blonde-haired girl with pointed ears, and yet another girl whose raven dark hair was done up in a warrior's braid, the same as Ranma.

"Oh no," Ranma groaned as he saw the girl in question.

"Say, wasn't that...?" Ryoga began to say when they heard the one named Watazashi cry out, "But why did they take Tinkerbell?"

"Tinkerbell?" Ranma glanced at his companions, then in unison they began to approach the trio.

"Maybe you were one too many Watazashis," the blonde haired elf replied, "Maybe it didn't think it needed a duplicate copy. Who knows? I'm sure not an expert on this stuff."

"Duplicate copy?" Ranma murmured to himself, "One too many...?"

"Oh my," Akane fretted in a cute way, "Kasumi and Perfume aren't going to be too happy to hear that their daughter went off in the company of some strangers. What are we going to tell them, Ranma?"

Ranma and his companions halted in mid-step as all three mouthed the word, "Ranma?" while staring in disbelief at the elf girl.

"Hey, nothing to worry about," the Blonde smirked in a way that was unmistakably Saotome, "She's in the company of two Saotomes...that just doubles the odds in her favor..."

Ranma had heard enough and announced himself by saying, "You mind explaining that one to me, Creampuff?"

The blonde elf-girl, Akane and Watazashi turned to gape at the Time Agents, and then Akane said, "Oh my..." in a strangely Kasumi-like manner...

Continuum #46972185

Roll Call:

Ranko Saotome-Daughter of Ranma and Akane from Continuum#29715382 Watazashi Saotome -Daughter of Ranma and Kodachi from Continuum#29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-Daughter of Mousse and Nabiki from Continuum#294572180 Tinkerbell Tendo -Daughter of Perfume and Kasumi from Continuum#68743219 Rinse Saotome-Daughter of Ranma and Shampoo from Continuum#472193567 Tachi Tendo -Daughter of Kuno and Nabiki from Continuum#472193567 Ryeka Misaki-Daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka from Continuum#472193567 Atari Moroboshi-Daughter of Ataru and Lum from Continuum#472193567

"You Baka!" Rinse shouted at the pendant on Ranko's breast, "What did you bring them along for?" she pointed wildly at the two hovering aliens, who were glowing all the more brightly.

In Ranko's mind the answer came at once, "This Unit is gathering necessary components for a greater purpose, and the units designated as Ayeka and Atari are beings of great power that may help to achieve this purpose."

"It says they might be useful," Ranko related to her companions.

"As what?" Tachi asked, "Cannon fodder? In case you haven't noticed, those two are about to engage in one of their usual spats, and standing too near them when this happens would not be advisable. I suggest a strategic retreat would be in good order."

"Good thinking," Watazashi complimented, "I was going to suggest much the same thing myself. Come along, darling."

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Yuan-Yen agreed as everyone moved away from the two hovering girls with as much haste as could be employed without attracting too much notice. Tinkerbell remained off the ground herself, floating along at their side, to which Ranko asked, "How do you do that?"

"What, fly?" Tinkerbell's voice was as musical as the sound she made while floating, "It's just something I was born with. I understand when I was born my floating about caused quite a stir in the delivery room. It also almost got me dissected when a bunch of science guys decided they wanted to know how I do it."

"With such an ability, a name like Tinkerbell does make a kind of sense," Watazashi mused as she contemplated the unearthly beauty of the other girl, right up until Yuan-Yen grabbed her by her warrior's braid and bent her head backwards.

"Excuse me?" Yuan-Yen mused dryly, "You happen to be scoping out my 'cousin.'"

"Eh?" Watazashi recovered her balance and turned to her glowering companion, "Surely you do not think that I would hit upon another girl with you watching over me, my darling?"

"Of course not," Yuan-Yen replied, "You'd wait until my back was turned, then you'd do it."

"I'm hurt that you can have such a low opinion of me as that," Watazashi said soothingly, moving into the other girl's embrace as they snuggled up together, their faces only inches apart as she said, "You have always been the one for me, and I want you to believe this body and soul..."

"HEADS UP!" Rinse cried out, one second before a huge eruption in the air sizzled everything within a fifteen-meter radius. Electricity and some other type of power met and collided in a massive explosion, forcing everyone to flinch away for several long and tense moments, before turning back to see the Green haired Atari and the Blue-haired Ryeka still hovering near to one another, their clothing mildly singed around the edges.

A moment later both girls collapsed on the ground, momentarily unconscious.

"Well," Tachi mused, "That was certainly anti-climatic."

"They do that sort of thing all the time?" Ranko asked, fairly appalled.

"Especially when I'm involved," Rinse sighed, "Why can't those two just get along? It's not like I've encouraged them to fight over me!

"It's the Saotome charm," Tachi smiled, "According to Mom you had it too, only she called it the Curse of the Combat Fianc es."

Oh lovely," Rinse rolled her eyes, "In other words it's a family tradition!"

"I'm afraid so," Watazashi agreed, "Though I have found my true love, my life has not exactly been uneventful. Every now and again some new challenger or potential threat imposes itself upon my peaceful existence..."

"Peaceful existence?" Yuan-Yen smiled, "'Dachi, your family may be loaded and you may live in a mansion that's more like a small palace, but things have rarely been that peaceful around you..."

"Are you complaining about that?" Watazashi asked.

"Heck no," Yuan-Yen smiled, "At least it isn't dull being around you."

Ranko heard a snort from Tinkerbell and turned to look at the levitating girl, who was eyeing Watazashi with an almost unreadable expression.

But then she noticed something else, and she turned away from her companions to point, "Hey look! Isn't that Grandmother's place?"

The others turned to look, and then Rinse said, "You're right! That looks exactly like Grandmother and Grandfather's house. We must be in the Juban district...that pendant thing took us clear across town..."

"And more than that," Watazashi noted, "I don't remember seeing that attachment to my own grandmother's home."

They turned to look and saw the walled-in yard that extended to the side of the Saotome house, and over the wall they could just make out the roof of what looked like the Tendo dojo, itself, and by the gates of this wall was a placard reading, "SAOTOME SCHOOL OF ANYTHING GOES MARTIAL ARTS."

"The dojo is here?" Ranko asked, "Then...what about the one at grandfather's house?"

"The Tendo dojo?" Watazashi mused, "A very fascinating question, and I suspect that the answer will tell us much about the type of world that we have ventured to this time, and the occupants of same that we are here to encounter."

"Heads up," Tachi called out, "I think we're about to get our answer!"

The teenagers turned to follow her gesture, and-sure enough-running along the edge of a wall was a sprightly teenaged form with long silvery hair flowing in the breeze, an Amazon hairstyle giving adequate testimony as to pedigree, as was her strong resemblance to a certain someone that Rinse herself referred to on an intimate basis.

"Is that...?" she gasped.

"I'm guessing that she's a sister," Watazashi replied, "Though I may be mistaken."

The running figure slowed to a halt when she caught sight of the strangers standing in the street outside her yard, and then with wary caution she assumed a casual stance that could be used for fight or flight purposes and addressed herself at all the new faces, "Uh...hello? Nihao and all that..."

"Nihao," Tachi replied with a polite bow, "We were looking for the Saotome residence...I assume that this is it?"

"Yeah," the other girl replied with understandable caution, "So...who wants to know?"

"Merely travelers passing through your neighborhood who thought perhaps to chat," Watazashi replied, "We are not enemies, if that is what you are fearing."

"Ah...you guys aren't here from China are you?" the silver haired girl asked with a dubious expression, "Because if this is about either me or Mom..."

"Nothing like that, I assured you," Tachi replied, "In fact, if you want the honest truth of the matter, we're what you might call...ah...family, distant relations from out of town."

"Family," the girl huffed, "I guess that makes sense."

"I'm Tachi," Tachi replied, avoiding giving out her family name, "These are my friend, Rinse, Watazashi, Yuan-Yen, Tinkerbell...and of course Ranko..."

There was a groaning noise from where the two alien girls had fallen, signifying a return to consciousness for both of them, to which Tachi added, "Oh yes...and those are Atari and Ryeka."

"Swell," the girl replied, "A troupe of circus performers, aincha?"

"I like her," Watazashi grinned, glancing at Ranko, "In some ways she reminds me a lot of you."

"So," Ranko said, "What's your handle?"

"Silver," the girl replied, "Saotome Silver."

"Silver," Rinse repeated softly, nodding her head slowly as she murmured under her breath, "It figures..."

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Cross Gender References: shadowmane

As the party grows with each encounter and the Timecops close in on the trail, what is the true purpose of the pendant, and what does it portend for Nerima? Stay tuned as we explore yet another world of alternate Ranma offspring, and then on to the true challenge, with Lylac and Ekko joining in to save the day. Do be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	7. Chapter 7

RanSquared6

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
and featuring characters/situations created by fellow fanfic authors Nicole Manders (Dreiser) and D. B Sommers)

Part Six.

Continuum #59343921

"Hello, won't you come in?" asked the Princess Tenko Masaki, whom most everyone simply referred to as Tenko or Tenko-chan, "You've been expected."

Lylac and Ekko accepted the polite invitation of their Indigo-haired friend, who-though the daughter of a notorious space pirate-was nearly the opposite in temperament and nature to her biological mother. Tenko was dressed modestly in a silk kimono and acted every inch the part of a lady as she indicated the way to her Grandmother's laboratory as Lylac asked, "Expected, how so?"

"Grandmother said you would be calling by," Tenko replied, "I've been assisting her in her latest research project involving Temporal transdimensional location..."

"Interesting," Ekko mused, "So our visit was anticipated because Professor Washu knew that we would be drawn by the same phenomena that attracted her interest?"

"That and the fact that her spy-camera saw the both of you transporting onto the arrival disk," Tenko replied, "I'm really not privy to everything Grandmother knows, but I can hazard a guess that something big is up that involves the both of you. It's better if I let Grandmother explain it, though, since I'm only her apprentice."

They walked through the closet door that supposedly should have been occupied by a small chamber located under the staircase, without even a sense of transition they stepped into a Pocket dimensional space outside of normal Temporal reckoning, and took a brief elevator down to the sub-basement floor, where they found the allegedly "Greatest Mad Scientist in the Galaxy" hunched over one of her terminals busy typing in a series of mathematical equations.

Ekko scanned the huge monitoring screen that was displaying a three-dimensional computer simulated topological abstraction and immediately said, "Well, well, Professor...it seems you are ahead of me, which is only to be expected."

"Call me Little Washu," said Mad Scientist replied, her spiky pink hair its usual uncombed riot, "I assume you have something for me. Put it in the slot and let's see if your equations agree with mine, Ekko-chan."

Ekko stepped forward and presented the data-disk upon which she had recorded her own nocturnal findings and inserted in the appropriate slot of the machine. A moment later a side-screen appeared that read out a series of numbers and equations in a complex mathematical formula, which same Washu scanned in only a glance.

"I see you made some allowances for uncertainty and a lack of data," Washu commented in a thoughtful manner, "Over all you made some pretty good guesses, so I guess you know what the problem is and why we have to fix it."

"In so many words, yes," Ekko nodded, "It would seem an anomaly is loose in the Timestream engineering its own attempt at repairs, but there is some doubt that its calculations will prove successful. I believe it will be necessary to tilt the balance of affairs back in our favor through some timely intervention."

"Your guess is as good as mine, kid," Washu smiled, finally turning to acknowledge her second favorite student with a smile, "For you kids who can't balance sixteen digit equations in your head, I'll make this real simple and explain that this Pendant thing you're after is trying to perform a function similar to a diagnostic self-repair routine in an ordinary home computer. It located a problem, isolated the cause, theorized on a counter-program then waited for the right opportunity to arise that would allow it to put its grand scheme into operation. The pendant is really a highly sophisticated device of artificial manufacture that serves as a conduit for a greater intelligence, so it's really the intelligence itself that's calling the shots here and trying to correct a perceived problem."

"What problem is that, Little Washu?" Lylac asked, "I know I must seem slow when compared with you geniuses..."

"Not at all," Washu smiled, "And if I knew the answer to your question, then I'd tell it to you. As best I can determine several timelines are in danger of structurally collapsing because of some previous intercession in the normal Time-scheme. If they go, then they could affect the timelines next to them, and this could have a gradual chain reaction that might cause whole threads in the time loop to unravel, and if that should occur..." she pressed a section of her touch-board and set a computer simulation to begin running.

The holographic representative of a complex pattern of swirls resembling a large Jelly donut...or possibly an hourglass, comprised of sinuous threads weaving and interweaving through a colossal figure eight loop began to suffer a series of breaks in several of the threads, causing the rest of the structure to begin cycling faster and faster until the entire structure began to reweave and unravel, coming apart into an explosive fusion that briefly went supernova, then vanished altogether, leaving only a hazy void in its absence.

"Oh my," said Tenko into the ensuing silence, "I certainly hope that that doesn't happen."

"Fortunately there does appear to be agencies at work that are seeking to also rectify this problem," Washu related to the three awed teenagers, "But this sort of thing is delicate work and may be beyond their ability to handle. Understand that everything in the Multiverse is related in some way to everything else in one gigantic, all-encompassing master equation. Pull one threat out of the loop and it sets a chain of events into motion. Fortunately the Multiverse is mainly self-correcting, so little problems don't amount to a whole lot and are easily dealt with...but major problems, say...involving a Temporal Nexus...that's a trickier matter. That's why the pendant seems to be focusing so much upon Nexus children and those closely allied to them, and since you are a Nexus yourself, Tendo-san..."

"I see," Lylac replied, "Then it is your thought that I may be somehow able to help in this matter?"

"With a little assistance from your friend and my granddaughter," Washu replied with a smile, "And one other who I've taken the liberty of contacting just prior to your arrival."

The elevator behind them hissed as the platform descended once again, and them a lovely apparition stepped onto the main floor of the laboratory, a radiant beauty in a lacy dress whose gentle demeanor belied the vast potential that was within her.

"I came as soon as I could, Professor," the demure beauty with incredibly long chestnut colored hair said politely in a voice that was as mellow as honeyed butter, "My parents gave me permission to assist you, so how may I do so?"

Lylac was the first to react to the presence of the angelic vision, "Veil-chan?"

"Interesting," Ekko mused, "Having her along will certainly make for an interesting balance."

"Hello, Veil-chan," Tenko smiled demurely, "It has been a while."

Morisato Veil smiled warmly at her three friends, then studied the computer holographic display and became at once concerned, "Oh my...is that what I think it is, Professor?"

"Sure thing," Washu replied, "A Multi-dimensional trans-temporal feedback loop, only as you can tell several of the chords linking past and present are out of alignment, hence the Doppler shift effect that's discoloring the pattern."

"Have you been hacking into the Yggdrasil database again, Professor?" Veil softly chided, then sighed, "I guess that's not really very important just now. This is indeed most worrisome. I can see now why Mother was so concerned that I should come over to help you."

"Your mother is an extremely wise woman," Washu replied, "But even your Aunts could see that we have a bit of a problem on our hands. So I'm counting on you to do your part and assist my granddaughter and her two friends on this assignment."

"I will certainly endeavor to do my best in any way that I am able, Professor," Veil agreed, "But perhaps I should call upon the services of my cousins...?"

"No need to turn this into a mob scene," Washu remarked, "One of you will be enough, and there's no way I'd trust the daughters of Urd and Skuld on a mission of this sensitivity and complexity. I'm sure these others will more than suffice in assisting you to complete this mission. Now, Tenko-chan, I'm downloading a set of instructions onto your personal com-pad. I want you to follow them to the letter and report back to me at regular intervals so that I can monitor your progress. Now, if you three will follow my granddaughter into the Transmatter Relocation Transmitter, I'll be sending you on your way, and hopefully be able to retrieve you back in time so you won't be late for classes."

"I certainly hope so," Lylac remarked as she followed her three friends into the booth that vaguely resembled the base of a large cannon, "Too much more of this bouncing around through space and time and my grades might be affected."

"Trust me on this," Washu smiled in what had to be one of the least reassuring lines ever coined, "What could possibly go wrong with me guiding your steps?"

Lylac wisely chose not to answer that question as Washu started up the device, and quite suddenly the four friends found themselves being hurled into a void with only the vaguest concept of what would be awaiting them at the point of their arrival...

Continuum #68743219

"...And this is the Gold ribbon I won in the Y2K Summer Olympics," Akane showed yet another placard in what seemed like an endless supply of awards, certificates, medals, trophies and titles, "I won in both Decathlon and the four hundred meter relays. And here is my Gold for when I took part in the women's gymnastics events of the 2004 games...of course I coached the team in 2008...and here is the medal I received from the Emperor after our team won the International Soccer meet in 2002, and..."

"Wow," Ryoga remarked, "You've sure won a lot of trophies, Akane."

"Oh, these are just the ones I keep in my office," Akane made a dismissive gesture, "I've got lots more of these back at my house...just too many of them to fit into one room, you know? Baseball, Basketball, Volleyball, Archery, Lacrosse..."

"Let me get this straight," Ranma said, "You're an internationally recognized sports celebrity but you chose to retire a couple years ago so you could teach here at Furinkan..."

"But of course," Akane said brightly, "It got pretty boring always winning all those prizes, and while the money I won with endorsements was pretty good, it just wasn't very satisfying any more. Being the best wasn't that much of a challenge, but to teach young people how to excel and reach for their best, now that's a fun challenge! No point in resting on my laurels for the rest of my life while I could be here helping to make a difference where it really counts."

"And you're not a practicing Martial artist...but my counterpart is?" Nabiki asked in dull wonder.

"Well, of course I keep in shape, and I know enough about Anything Goes martial arts that I can look after myself," Akane said brightly, "But I really don't enjoy fighting, unless I have to. I'd much rather let the title of Heir go to my Nabiki, who's got a pretty violent temper and seems to really enjoy beating up people."

As Nabiki made a slight strangling noise of protest, the blonde haired Ranma said, "Sounds to me like things were really screwed up in your world if your Akane chose martial arts over a career in sports. My brother, the Ryoga of this world, does okay keeping the Dojo afloat, with Nabiki helping him balance accounts, but it's really her singing career that brings in the real money."

"Singing career?" Ranma asked with arched eyebrows, "You mean Nabs here is an Idol singer?"

"Sure is," Akane said brightly, "And she's almost as popular as my Chocolate. They have a son who goes to school here, named Kitsune, who's sixteen..."

"I have a son named Kitsune?" Ryoga blinked his eyes at the revelation.

"You and Nabiki, eh?" Ranma eyed the pair of them with a look of suspicion.

"Ah..." both Nabiki and Ryoga winced in chorus.

"Father," Watazashi reminded, glancing from one version of Ranma to the other, "What about, Tink? She's somewhere out there with another version of me doing the Kami-knows what..."

"Take it easy, kid," the blonde Ranma replied, "That's what my 'brother' and these other are here for, to do something about it, right?"

"Uh...sure," Ranma looked at his counterpart, "Run this by me again, okay? You change into an...elf? And you're...okay with this?"

"Hey, there are worse things you could change into," the blonde Ranma replied, "And being an Elf gives me all sorts of really neat advantages, so I don't have to rely on just my martial arts all of the time. Besides that, I'm sexy enough that nobody wants to attack me unless there's some misunderstanding that we can usually talk it out, maybe come to some kind of suitable arrangement."

Ranma eyed the blonde warily and asked, "Just what exactly is it you do for a living, Creampuff?"

"Why," the other Ranma smiled benevolently, "I just run a major Media conglomerate with ties into all sorts of Entertainment media, along with my cute wife, Dachi. Rankuno Industries is a major stockholder with a huge International market for our products, especially Anime and Otaku-related merchandising, licensing and distribution. I'm individually rated as being about the sixth wealthiest guy on the planet, which of course is fifty percent owned by 'Dachi..."

"He sounds more like you than Ranma," Ryoga murmured to Nabiki.

"Don't remind me," Nabiki grumbled back in the same low tone of voice.

Ranma suppressed the mighty urge to hit his counterpart on general principles and instead turned to regard the anxious Watazashi, "We'll find your friend...ah...Tinkerbell," he winced, "No problem. If she's with the...ah...other Watazashi, and Ranko, then there's a good chance that we'll home in on them in our next transfer."

"Oh please," Watazashi replied, "I know Tink can be a real pain at times, but she's my best friend, and if anything were to happen to her..."

"There now, 'Zashi-chan," Akane said soothingly, "I'm sure these three will do everything in their power to bring my niece back home safe and sound. Now try and smile, you don't want your face to pick up premature wrinkles, right? Good, now, I'll make a call to let Kasumi and Perfume know that their daughter's been abducted but they shouldn't worry about it because I'm sure she'll be back before we know it."

As the perpetually perky Furinkan Athletic Coach returned to her desk and began speed dialing on a dataphone, Nabiki tracked her movements with her eyes, then in a casual tone she calmly announced, "I am going to be ill."

"She seems so...happy," Ryoga remarked in disbelief and wonder.

"Yeah," Ranma grumbled, "Like a severe overdose of valium."

"You noticed that too, huh?" the other Ranma shrugged, "Well, she's mostly harmless, and she sure brightens up a room when she walks in. Can't imagine being married to her myself...it must've been like coming home very day to one of those old Vid families, the kind where nobody ever seems to have any real problems."

Ranma wisely said nothing, but in his mind he replayed a thousand or more images of an angry Akane flying into one of her rages, just moments before she vented her wrath upon him in some particularly painful manner. Compared with that, this overly friendly and cheerful Akane was certainly preferable, if more than a bit disturbing.

Nabiki heard a familiar trill and at once touched her wrist-com, "Go ahead, Ryo-  
chan?"

"I've got it, Boss!" Ryonami announced, "I've fixed the link...two transfer points ahead of where you are, about two whole sector clicks over."

"That's about twenty million reality cycles," Nabiki frowned, "Can you lock those coordinates so we don't wind up bounding around in another diversion?"

"Already locked and loaded," Ryonami replied, "Say the word and I'll initiate transfer."

"Wait!" Watazashi said, "Take me with you! I want to help find Tink!"

"That wouldn't be a good idea," Ryoga replied, "Dimension hopping is dangerous work, even for us professionals..."

"Besides which, kid," Ranma looked into those disturbing dark violet eyes and saw his own anxiety reflected, which caused him to hesitate slightly before saying, "We haven't got time to feed your data pattern into the Net...but I've given you my word, I'll find her and bring her back to you safe and sound."

"The word is given," Nabiki murmured softly.

"I-I suppose I'll have to trust you after all, Father..." Watazashi replied, just before the three agents began their transition.

As they entered the dimensional corridor that would whisk them to their distant location, Ryoga turned to Ranma and asked, "You think that was wise...promising her something like that?"

"I gave my word, Ryoga," Ranma murmured darkly, and both of his companions knew that he would fight through the legions of Hell to keep his word, for he was Saotome Ranma...

Continuum #46972185

Roll Call

Ranko Saotome-Daughter of Ranma and Akane from Continuum #29715382 Watazashi Saotome -Daughter of Ranma and Kodachi from Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-Daughter of Mousse and Nabiki from Continuum#294572180 Tinkerbell Tendo -Daughter of Perfume and Kasumi from Continuum#68743219 Rinse Saotome-Daughter of Ranma and Shampoo from Continuum#472193567 Tachi Tendo -Daughter of Kuno and Nabiki from Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Misaki-Daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka from Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-Daughter of Ataru and Lum from Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-Daughter of Ranma and Shampoo from Continuum #46972185

"Tadaima!" announced Silver Saotome as she entered the threshold of her house, followed by the eight strangers, whom she tended to think of as Amazons due to their style of dress and odd hair colors.

"Well hello," said a stately woman of great dignity and bearing (despite the touches of silver in her hair and the maturity of her lovely features), "Did you invite some of your classmates to come visit with you, Silver-chan? My, such an interesting group of young people..."

"Naw, never saw them before in my life, Grandmother," Silver replied, "So...what's for supper? I hope you made extra portions."

"I could always boil more rice if your friends are staying for summer," Nodoka replied as she exchanged bows with some of the more polite members of the timelost travelers.

"No thanks, Grandmother," Ranko automatically said, before Rinse rapped her fist against a rib that caused the redhead to wince and say, "Hey!"

"What Ranko-chan means is that it is most gracious of you to offer this to us, noble lady," Watazashi said suavely, "But alas, we will not be staying for very long, just a brief visit. We met your granddaughter by chance as we were looking for the Saotome home..."

"Oh," Nodoka smiled, "You want to see Ranma and visit our school, is that it? Well, the dojo is out back if you want to see him. He and Shampoo are teaching classes at this very moment."

"Shampoo," Tachi murmured, "Interesting."

"At least that tells us something about the mother," Yuan-Yen agreed in the same low voice.

Tinkerbell was glancing around at the room, struck by major similarities and differences to what she knew of the original home of the Saotome clan, before Ranma had moved his parents into the Kuno mansion. She immediately noted small signs of male cohabitation and said, "Is your husband around, Saotome-san?"

"Oh no," Nodoka smiled, "He's over at the Tendo house playing Shogi with Soun, like always. He'll be back later on tonight, no doubt smelling of sake, but ready and willing to...um...fulfill his domestic obligations..."

"What an incredible dump this is!" Ryeka murmured at the back of the crowd, just low enough not to be heard by anyone but those closest to her.

"I agree that it is rustic," Atari replied, "But we ought not to insult our hostess."

"What's going on?" a young male voice asked them, causing both women to turn around and gape at the handsome male youth standing their in the doorframe with a guitar slung across his back, "What's with all the company?"

"And who," Rinse mused, "Is that?"

"My younger son, Narasuma," Nodoka revealed, "These are some friends that Silver brought home. Er...I don't believe that we've made formal introductions?"

"The lapse is entirely our fault," Watazashi replied, "My name is Watazashi, and these are my good friends, Yuan-Yen, Ranko, Rinse, Tachi, Tinkerbell, Ryeka...and I believe her name is Atari?"

"Moroboshi," Atari cooed as she smiled at the handsome Narasuma, "At your service."

"Hey," Rinse frowned, evidencing slight irritation.

"Nara here's my Uncle, if you can believe it," Silver indicated the youth, "Now, if you guys really wanna meet my parents..."

"Oh, we do," Tachi replied, "By all means lead the way. Nice to meet you, Nara-  
san."

"Likewise, I guess," the boy slung around his guitar and began to play a few chords experimentally, evidencing no more concern at the attention of these strange women.

"Hmph," Ranko murmured to herself as they left the room, following Silver, "Your 'Uncle' doesn't look any older than you are..."

"Tell me about it," Silver sniffed, "In fact we're about the same age, mainly due to how late my parents got around to getting married, and a...problem they had in having me, not that it's any of your business."

"If it relates to Jusenkyo curses, I can grok," Ranko replied, earning a startled look from Silver.

"What do you know about Curses?" she asked.

"Just that they're a bloody pain in the you-know-what," Ranko replied with a sigh, "Forget it, it's too long a story..."

Silver eyed her redheaded counterpart warily, but there was something in Ranko's expression that made her feel a very odd sense of kinship. In a low voice she murmured, "Y'know...you kinda look like my father..."

"I get that a lot," Ranko sighed, "Mine died when I was too young to remember him, but...well..."

The dojo was currently supporting about a dozen advanced students and was being administered by a tall, incredibly handsome man with long black hair done up in the manner of Amazon odangos, wearing a Chinese pantsuit and surveying the students with a critical eye to heir performance. Supporting him was a redhead who looked like a much older version of Ranko, barking sharp orders whenever she saw a student lagging or failing to perform a kata properly. The students were moving in perfect synchronization from one motion to the next in a complex set of attack-and-blocking thrusts that the Timecrossed girls each knew from their own deep interest in the subject.

"Dad!" Silver called out when the final motion of the kata was completed, "Company come to see you!"

Both the tall man and the redhead turned to stare in mild surprise at the new arrivals, then with a motion of his hand the man said, "Class will take a fifteen minute break. Rest and recover yourselves, then we will start the motion all over."

"And some of you better stretch out a little more," the redhead said gruffly, "Your muscles won't kink or seize up in a fight if you limber up properly beforehand."

The redhead joined the tall man on the porch of the dojo as they studied the eight odd-looking girls gathered beside Silver in their family garden, then the redhead looked straight at Ranko and said, "Boy, do you look familiar."

"It's...kinduva long story...Dad," Ranko replied, wincing as if anticipating another rap to her ribs from Rinse's direction.

Instead Rinse was staring at the tall man and saying, "Who are you?"

"I might ask you the same thing," the man replied warily, "Did you come from Joketsuzoku to find me?"

"Not exactly," Rinse replied, when Atari rose up and hovered in the air, studying the man with closer scrutiny, ignoring the astonished looks she received from both adults and Silver.

"Oh my," she murmured in astonishment, "He...has a peculiarity to his aura...very similar to your mother, Darling."

"Hey, you're right," Ryeka was suddenly at the man's side as though she had teleported from one spot to the other, "You may be a handsome looking stud, but there's definitely something about you that reads like Saotome Shampoo."

The man blinked his eyes when the redhead stepped forward, "I'm Saotome Shampoo...this is...my husband, Saotome Ranma."

"Husband," Tachi sniffed, "And since when were you comfortable with admitting that, Uncle?"

"What are you saying?" Rinse asked her companion.

"That either there has been a total reversal of genders, or we are witnessing the effect of a double Jusenkyo curse," Tachi smiled, "Am I right or not?"

The man frowned perceptively, while Ranma eyed Tachi and said, "Think you're clever, huh? And what makes you such an expert?"

"A lot of things may change from one word to the other," Tachi replied, "But there are certain mannerisms that remain the same in all the worlds that I have so far visited. You are Saotome Ranma...and I am guessing that this is your wife, Shampoo, transformed into male form."

The man assumed a fighting crouch and said, "If you've come to take me back, then you can tell Perfume that she can kiss my..."

"What's my Fama got to do with this?" Tinkerbell asked as she, too, came floating up alongside Ryeka and Atari.

"What the...who the heck are you people?" the redhead demanded in a tone of challenge.

Watazashi sighed, "Would you believe that we are visitors a long way from our place and home? We are from different worlds but share a common link together...father."

"Father?" Silver looked at the dark haired girl, then at the redhead, "What the heck are they talking about?"

"I dunno," Ranma replied, "But I got a nasty feeling I'm gonna find out, whether I want to or not..."

Continuum #17046289

The building was derelict and forbidding, clearly having known better days, but still recognizable as Furinkan High School, at least as remembered by the three Time Agents.

"Ryonami," Nabiki spoke into her wrist transceiver, "Are you sure about those coordinates? This place doesn't even look inhabitable...in fact, I'd swear that all of Nerima itself looks totally deserted."

"I double-checked to make sure, Boss," came Ryonami's response, "Those are definitely the coordinates for the Terminus, it's just that you seem to be about twenty-three minutes ahead of their arrival."

"The place is a mess," Ranma murmured, "And that smell...kinda musty, even a little dead looking..."

"I don't sense any people around," Ryoga remarked, "At least...not what we'd recognize as people. There's...something lurking around this place. It's not totally deserted..."

"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "Creepy."

Nabiki swept the place with her handheld scanner then said, "I'm confirming that there are life forms of some kind in this neighborhood...also a very strong energy reading...coming from almost directly under the school building. Some residual particle traces in the environment suggest causes other than nuclear or biological to account for the amount of devastation we're perceiving..."

"I confirm that, Boss," Ryonami replied, "Running a full spectral analysis of the timeline...point of divergence is roughly nineteen-point-one-four-six years from your present temporal location...which puts it around...Graduation Day? Oh dear!"

"Oh dear what?" Ranma glanced towards Nabiki's wrist-com.

"Boss, I think you're standing near to ground zero for a big event ala Urotsukodoji," Ryonami reported, "There was an Ascension held at that school over nineteen years ago, a Demon-Beast invasion type of creature gestation that heralded in a new era of darkness for the human race. In some timelines the event was prevented by a young warrior named Natsume the Vampire Slayer..."

"Natsume the Vampire Slayer?" Nabiki repeated, "Are we talking about my COUSIN Natsume? The one who always fought using a rug-beater?"

"The same, only not quite," Ryonami replied, "This version was a little more like her Kawaii younger sister, Kurumi, a fair martial artist, but not as good as you remember just prior to her being Chosen as the Slayer..."

"You mean she was the star of the show and not me?" Ranma sounded almost dumbfounded.

"Apparently not, Mister Macho," Ryonami teased, "But you were part of her inner band of supporting cast members, if I make this analysis right, only you got taken out of the picture by some girl named Megumi, who kidnapped you to take back home to her world on the Beast Plane..."

"It figures," Ryoga said in almost jibing tones, "While everything goes to hell in a handbasket, you're always out cavorting with the ladies, Ranma."

"Har-har-har," Ranma growled in a tone that dripped sarcasm.

"I hope she was worth it, Saotome," Nabiki growled in her own fairly impressive attempt to sound more than mildly jealous.

"Wow," Ryonami spoke up again, "According to this my counterpart was a practicing witch, and you, Boss, were the major systems analysis for our group, while Doctor Tofu was Natsume's watcher..."

"Later," Nabiki said, "Save the download for when I have time to study it at leisure. In the meantime, how about explaining that weird energy pulse I'm picking up here..."

"Oh, that," Ryonami replied, "Well, it looks like the Gosunkugi of this world did more than dabble in the occult arts. He found a journal belonging to some weird German scientist named Munnihausen and managed to contact his ghost and...well, it seems like the school was being used for scientific experiments by the government at the time, and he convinced them to let him show them this science experiment that required the services of twelve 'volunteers'...Yeesh! This world was almost a Fascist dictatorship! Worse than the Tojo government on a bad day! I mean, they actually let him get away with that? It's inhuman...!"

"Uh...maybe you'd better save the rest of it for later," Ryoga noted to his comrades, "I think we've got company."

Ranma glanced over his shoulder and saw the looming shapes that were appearing from the gloom and concealment of the ruined walls surrounding the school and adjoining suburbs, "I make about eight of them in all, being led by a big guy and...you gotta be kidding me!"

"D j vu all over again," Nabiki agreed, "Only this time he brought his friends with him."

A hissing sound cut through the eerie silence like the thunderous roar of a low-  
flying glider. Ryoga turned to the sound and stretched out his hand, perceiving the huge shape before it could reach them and snatched it by its middle section with the same ease with which he had so often caught his own umbrella in the days when he'd carried one with him. The object turned out to be a massive double-bladed stone weapon meant for throwing like a boomerang. Ryoga could smell the hint of fresh blood on its grayish length and sniffed in distaste, then squeezed his hand none-too-gently and caused the entire object to shatter into stony fragments.

"What the...?" a lumbering shape formed roughly like a man cried out, storming towards them on ponderous legs that shook the ground like a miniature earthquake, "You destroyed my favorite weapon...?"

"That toy?" Ryoga sniffed, "Don't worry, you won't be needing it much longer."

Nabiki's hand moved as swiftly as a thought and she snatched a pair of tiny wires that had been about to wrap themselves around her neck. She turned to glare at a hidden figure and growled, "That trick only works once, Asshole, and since I've improved since the last time, you're toast."

"The last time?" a handsome male figure clutching the other end of the wires appeared with a somewhat puzzled expression, "Have we met before? I rather doubt it."

The man's body began to be surrounded by an electrical current that shot down the length of the wire to Nabiki, who merely smiled and gave no hint of discomfort as her own body began to be surrounded by a powerful force that caused her end of the wire to repulse his charge and send it back at him in a massive feedback discharge. The man cried out in shock, horror and pain before his body began to tear itself apart, both internally and externally, so that he fell to the ground a smoking husk mere moments later.

"Trust me," Nabiki replied, "I'm told I can be rather shocking to deal with."

"Yuriamaru!" cried a woman whose scarred face was visible from beneath a rice hat, "YOU BITCH! DIE!"

Nabiki merely lifted a hand as she saw a cloud of black powder flowing from the other woman, and suddenly the wind kicked up and blew the powder back into the scarred woman's face, just before Nabiki snapped her fingers and caused it to erupt in a massive detonation.

"What, you again?" Ranma growled as he once again confronted on the face and form of the burly Gemma, "This is getting monotonous."

"Again?" Gemma frowned, "Have we met before? I usually kill the people I meet on a first-name basis. We were ordered by the Shogun to stand guard outside of his laboratory...but you three dare to challenge the Eight Devils of Kinmon?"

"Six Devils," Ranma smiled, cocked his head and self-corrected, "I'm sorry, make that five now."

"Why you...!" Gemma started to lurch forward.

"I'm bored," Ranma turned to Ryoga, "Wanna trade dance partners? I've always wanted a crack at the rock guy."

"Be my guest," Ryoga turned to Gemma, "He's the one with the healing factor, right?"

"Yep," Ranma said, "So make it hurt, and take your time. He can take it."

"With pleasure," Ryoga smiled as he put fist to palm, and for the first time in his Immortal life, Gemma began to wonder if he should worry...

"It doesn't matter to me which of you twerps I kill!" Tessai snarled as he lumbered forward, "I'm still gonna crush you like a maggot!"

"With what, your breath?" Ranma smiled, and suddenly he was inside the giant's guard with a fist that connected soundly with the other man's chest. The stone that surrounded Tessai's body broke like kindling as Ranma stepped away while the giant staggered three steps forward and came to a halt, staring at the hole that had been created.

"Wh-Wh...?" the stone giant collapsed to his knees, unable to even find the breath to ask what had been done to him.

"Hey, Rocky," Ranma held up an object in his hand that was slowly pulsing in a steady, rhythmic beat, "Lose this? Didn't think it was anything you'd miss since you've probably never even used it."

Ranma's fist squeezed on the beating stone, and it shattered into rubble. Tessai stared in disbelief until the eyes rolled up in his head and he started to pitch forward, dead before his face collided with the asphalt.

Ryoga was about to turn away when his instincts kicked in, and without turning around he stamped a foot on the ground, breaking the neck of the spitting cobra that had been about to strike him.

"HOW DARE YOU!" cried Benisato the Snake woman as she saw the damage inflicted on one of her "pets" and cried, "FOR THAT YOU DIE!"

"Y'know," Ryoga mused in almost bored tones, "I don't much like hitting women, but in your case I think I'll make an exception..."

Ranma heard the buzzing of insects and casually swatted something that moved too near to his face, smiled when he examined the bee in his hand and turned to see the hunchbacked figure surrounded by a swarm of similar insects.

"Mushizo, right?" Ranma smiled, "Not your lucky day, Bug-eyes," and soon another of the so-called "Devils" of Kinmon would learn to rue the day that he (or she) would have an encounter with this version of Saotome Ranma and his fellow Time Agents...

Continuum #46972185

"...And here we have your father when he was no more than four years of age, playing in the plastic swimming pool without remembering to put on his swimming trunks..."

"Wow!" Ranko was amazed as she stared down at the picture in the photo album that Nodoka was showing her, "He looks just like I did at that age, if you overlook the hair color and the fact that I didn't get my curse until I was a lot older."

"MOM!" Ranma cried in the aggravation all adult sons experience when their mothers seem to go out of their way to embarrass them in front of strangers, let alone ones with the bona fide credentials to claim him for their father.

"This is truly amazing," said Shampoo-now reverted back to her female form-  
as she studied Rinse and Watazashi with amazement, "Parallel lives in which my husband was with another woman...and you say that he married BOTH me AND Akane?"

"At the time it was considered the best possible arrangement to resolve the competing claims, Auntie," Tachi was explaining, "Officially Uncle Ranma married Akane, but unofficially my Aunt Shampoo was married to both of them by Amazon law, which satisfied both claims, or so Grandmother Cologne declared when she presided over the wedding."

"Then how come she doesn't look anything like me?" Silver was wondering.

"Actually she does," Yuan-Yen studied the expressions of both girls, "Ignoring the haircolor there is a frightening resemblance..."

"I wouldn't call it frightening myself," Watazashi remarked, "Disturbing, yes, considering that in our world Shampoo is happily married to Uncle Ryoga."

"Ryo-?" Shampoo stammered in total disbelief.

"Uncle Ryoga?" Silver frowned, "Ryo's dad? That's nuts!"

"You're telling me that?" Tinkerbell asked as she hovered over them exchanging notes with Atari and Ryeka while steering them away from the subject of their mutual antagonism over the Rinse issue.

"In other words you people are all from different worlds and have radically different histories, parentage and what-not?" Narasuma asked Ranko, "That must be pretty tough, bouncing around in various worlds together."

"No fooling," Ranko said, "No sooner do I say 'Hi' to somebody then BANG! I'm whisked off someplace else, and all because of this stupid trinket," Ranko fingered the pendant then added, "And I don't dare get rid of it or I might fade out of existence altogether."

"I'm sure it's been very hard for you," Nodoka said soothingly, "But it's amazing how well you're coping with the situation that you've found yourself in, Ranko-chan."

"Thanks, Grandmother," Ranko half-smiled, "I'm glad somebody appreciates that it ain't all that easy."

"Hey, buck up, Sprite," Ranma ruffled the head of the girl who so closely resembled his own cursed form, "You're doing great, which is only natural considering that you're a Saotome. Can't quite believe that I actually married both Shampoo and Akane on that one world..."

"You had better not believe it," Shampoo said archly in his direction.

"Heh," he said nervously, "Well, like I said, that pendant thing may be a lot of trouble, but at least it lets you get to see how things might have turned out if things had been different. Too bad about your parents, though. I hope my other self at least went down fighting."

"Ah..." Ranko recalled a flash of blood pouting from a wounded chest and hastily clamped down on the memories, trying not to think of who it was that had been wielding the knife, "Yeah...well...this thing also let me go back and watch it happen, so...I can pretty much guarantee there was a fight. If you don't mind, though..."

"Right," Ranma said gruffly, "Soul of tact, that's what I am..."

"Your father means well," Nodoka assured Ranko, "And I'm very glad that we had the chance to meet. My only regret has been that my son couldn't have more children..."

"MOM!" Narasuma and Ranma said together.

"So," Tachi mused, turning to glance at Ranma's younger brother, "Tell me about your uncle...is he really a musician?"

"Sure is," Silver replied, "And a pretty good one, too...a lot better than he is at martial arts, which is mainly because he doesn't much like fighting."

"I'll bet that doesn't please Grandfather very much," Watazashi mused, "He fairly lives and breathes the art, and to the best of my knowledge it is the only thing in which he excels at."

"Other than lying, cheating and getting me into trouble?" Rinse snorted indifferently, "It was his crummy idea that started the whole Engagement mess all over when he and Grandpa Soun put pressure on my Dad..."

"Ahem," Tachi meaningfully nudged her cousin with an eyebrow raised to indicate the floating rivals overhead.

"You mean that you have to marry someone for reasons other than choice?" Shampoo's level tone of hostility showed her own thoughts on the subject of arranged engagements.

"Actually," Yuan-Yen murmured in lowered tones, "The way I understand it, the field is open to whoever proves themselves the tougher fighter, otherwise she's supposed to marry a boy named Ryoukio, son of Ukyo and Ryoga."

"Guys," Rinse winced, "Would you mind not spreading gossip in front of my mother?"

"And these two desire you?" Shampoo pointed to the green and blue haired girls, narrowing her eyes as she considered them both as potential in-laws.

"Ah...well..." Rinse started to cringe as though she were in the presence of her own mother.

"Hello!" a voice called out from the front patio area, "Mind if we come inside?"

"It is preferable to cumming on the..." Watazashi winced as she received a meaningful elbow from Yuan-Yen.

"Why hello," Nodoka brightened as she gracefully rose to her feet to greet four new arrivals, two boys and two girls, "You're early...classes don't begin for another hour."

"We're not here for Macram lessons, Auntie," said a sweet-voiced girl, who turned and saw the assembled strangers and said, "What's this? Are we having a party?"

"Looks like a bunch of Amazons to me," remarked a girl with long dark-blonde hair and a tell-tale spatula strapped across her back, "What are they, a hunting party?"

"Hope they're not here to cause trouble," remarked a handsome youth whose bearing showed a somewhat belligerent nature.

"Ogawd, not him," Silver winced, but then she brightened considerably as her eyes took in the other male youth...an incredibly handsome boy who very much resembled Shampoo in male form, "Akira-chan!"

"Silver-chan," the handsome boy replied with a smile before examining the faces of the strangers, and taking notice that some of them were not confined to ground level.

"Who's this?" Atari mused with some interest.

"That's what I want to know," said Ryeka as she took notice of the blonde with a spatula.

"I saw her first," Watazashi murmured, only this time to move her hand in time to intercept Yuan-Yen's elbow.

"Uh, guys?" Silver turned to indicate the timelost youths and making hasty introductions before introducing the new arrivals, "This is Tendo Kiri, one of my best friends and Narasuma's iinazuke..."

Narasuma just smiled faintly and made a motion with the hand that was caressing his guitar, while Kiri brightened like the sun as she smiled back without reservations.

"...And that's Kuonji Yurika," Silver indicated the blonde with the bakers peel, who returned the silent acknowledgement while taking in the new faces. Silver's tone noticeably dropped a few degrees Celsius as she indicated one of the two boys, "And that's Kiri's cousin, Tendo Tarou."

"Charmed," the boy replied as he scanned the radiant beauties in the room as though performing a private inventory.

"...And this," Silver's tone noticeably warmed as she smiled at the handsome boy she had greeted earlier, "...Is Tendo Akira, Kiri's adopted Nephew..."

"Who is much older than myself and still a fair specimen of the House of Tendo," Kiri mused as she smiled at her reputed "Nephew."

"Two years," the boy shrugged, "That's not much of a difference."

"Fascinating," Watazashi remarked, turning to glance at Shampoo before staring back at the boy in question, "You say he is adopted?"

"Yeah," Silver moved forward to take Akira by the arm and lean her head against his shoulder, much to the handsome boy's surprise and Tarou's evident disapproval, "But I think he's great! Just don't be getting any ideas about him since you guys probably won't be staying..."

"Probably you're right," Ranko said as she got to her feet with a sigh, "I don't have that much control over it, but the Pendant seems to be taking us someplace and it's gathering up Saotomes and Tendos for some really big reason-and I can't tell you what that is because I don't know myself..."

"You mean you guys are on a quest?" Akira wondered.

"Hey, neat!" Silver brightened, "Can I go?"

"Silver-chan..." Shampoo rumbled in low warning.

"Ah, Mom," Silver pouted, "Don't I get to save the world once in a while, just you and Dad? Can I go along with this, Dad...PLEEEASSE?" the put her hands together and looked at her father with an incredibly kawaii expression.

"Well..." Ranma's resistance began to crumble, "As long as you remember to do your homework..."

"YIPEE!" Silver bounced up and down with enthusiastic glee, presenting quite a bouncy eyeful to those who watched her in either surprise or amusement.

"Ranma," Shampoo growled, "Don't encourage her! It's bad enough the trouble she gets into all by herself..."

"Don't worry, Auntie," Akira stood forward, "If she goes, then I'll go with her to look after Silver-chan. I won't let anything bad happen to her, I promise."

"And why do you get to play the hero?" Tarou growled, "I've got my own stakes invested in Silver. You don't think I'm gonna let anybody else get a crack at her before I have a chance to prove which one of us is the better fighter."

"Prove?" Silver snorted, "Who wants to prove anything to you? You wanna be best, then fine, you're the best, so leave me alone why doncha?"

"You're wasting your time around Tarou," Yuriko snorted, "In one ear, out the other."

"Hah-hah," Tarou shot back, murmuring under his breath, "Guy-lover."

Yuriko hissed and her hand was on her baker's peel when Ranma called out, "Not in the house, you two! That's why we've got a dojo!"

Ranko reached for the pendant and murmured under her breath, "I know you got your own priorities, but how about we leave behind the crowd and just take the Silver girl this time? She looks like she could handle herself. Oh yeah, and that Akira guy..."

Ranko paused as Tachi and Watazashi noticed her murmured comments, being close enough to hear as the redhead started, "Say what? What do you mean he's not...? HE IS? You've gotta be kidding me...!"

"Is something wrong, Ranko-chan?" Nodoka asked.

"Ah, nothing!" Ranko adopted a look of false innocence before cupping her hands around the pendant and muttering in a low voice, "Does Dad know about this...?"

"Know about what?" Ranma glanced at his reputed "daughter" in mild puzzlement, "Don't tell me it's one of those cursed items that only you can hear and nobody else? Kami, those are such a pain in the..."

"Not in front of the children," Nodoka calmly urged her son.

"That thing must get you some pretty odd looks," Narasuma remarked, before Kiri sidled up to him and took him by one arm, smiling a smile that was all radiant sweetness.

Ranko suddenly felt the pendant in her hands grow warm, and once more experienced the return of the rainbow effect to her surroundings, "Uh oh...it's started!"

"So soon?" Nodoka remarked, "But you haven't even stayed to share supper."

"These things are not always within the province of our control, Grandmother," Watazashi said with clear reluctance.

"It was nice meeting you," Rinse said to the astonished Shampoo, "Really...I always wondered what Mom would look like as a guy..."

"That must be the sort of thing you think about when you've been up too late at night studying," Yuan-Yen remarked as reality once again altered.

"Hey?" Silver tightened her grip on Akira's arm, seeing reality invert around them before righting itself again in a whole new setting, "What...gives?"

Tendo Nabiki looked up from her meditations, seeing a group of strange youth manifesting in her garden, which-while surprising in itself-was not all that unfamiliar an occurrence.

Of course the fact that these young people appeared directly over the Koi pond was only to be expected, and when they fell into it en mass she was privy to a sense of d j vu, matched only by the familiar sensation caused when a Jusenkyo curse was triggered in her presence.

Or, in this case, a couple of curses.

"Oh my," she remarked aloud, then arched her voice as she called out, "Sham-  
chan! Better set out more plates! We're having some guests over for dinner..."

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Full Wallets: shadowmane

"Guess who's coming for diner," takes on a new aspect as Ranko and her traveling bunch arrive at yet another setting with alternate versions of themselves to be encountered. Is this the last stop for the party before setting out on their grand adventure, and what about the Time Agents and their struggles in the dark and nefarious world that they have encountered? All that and more to be explored next time when we learn about the best laid plans of Cats and Dragons...so be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	8. Chapter 8

RanSquared7

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
with characters and situations created by fellow fanfic authors Nicole Manders (Dreiser), D.B. Sommers &amp; Gregg Sharp)

Chapter Seven.

Mimir's Well of Souls, Asgard

Toltir, the Cat-God of Mischief, stretched out languidly, having been disturbed out of a divine nap by a sense that something was stirring in the pool which was not of his instigation. He yawned and stretched much like a normal cat, which he superficially resembled, but his dreams were not the sort that any ordinary cat might dream, being the stuff of divine fancy, and thus likely to be translated into a reality through a few well-placed alterations that could be made within the timestream.

Toltir had taken to the habit of sitting watch over the mirror pool to guard against some of the meddling that his fellow deities were prone to in the wake of that unfortunate incident concerning a Troll and an Imp who had somehow snuck past the normal defenses, resulting in the creation of that Happy Face dimension where Ranma had wound up marrying Kasumi. Toltir had since left many traps to ensnare the unwary in the advent that someone else tried mucking with his territory, since he considered the life of Saotome Ranma as his personal playground, in all the various dimensions that he supervised on a regular basis.

Since the closing of the Bet Cycle many long seasons ago, Toltir had watched the numerous alternate pathways that had been created and allowed to run their course result in many a curious and even amusing direction, and he had traced several generations of Saotomes and Tendos down those lines to see which of their progeny could be deemed as most promising for future course meddling. Toltir had a certain fondness for the offspring of those kids who had given him so much amusement in the past, and it was only right that he-as their self-  
appointed guardian-should check on them every once in a while to make certain nothing went wrong with the experiment. It was his hope that one day he might find a descendent of Saotome Ranma who would be worth tutoring as his own personal apprentice.

So it was that the God of Mischief padded up to the pool and gazed into its swirling depths, perceiving the millions of parallel realities whose essences were mirrored within. Not being limited to the dimensions of human thought, perception and consciousness, it was childsplay for him to isolate the linear strands that had been resonating in such an alarming manner, and then Toltir's diamond-slit eyes narrowed as he perceived an irregularity that signified an unauthorized crossover between divergent dimensions.

Somebody was using a device to snatch Offspring from their home dimensions and gather them together for what appeared to be some intelligent purpose. Toltir mentally reversed the progress to trace it to its starting point, then played the whole thing back in his mind in a kind of fast-forward, and almost instantly he grasped the entire pattern, what had been done and was about to happen, and the other time parallel agents who would play their part in the overall scope of things.

"Oh my," he remarked, unconsciously mimicking one of his favorite of all humans, grasping both the risk and the danger as he could see the threads that were even now fraying and coming apart before his perceptions. Reality itself was in danger, and that could really ruin his fun in a very big manner! And all because that Gosunkugi kid had wanted a little personal power to make up for the deficiencies left in him by nature. Of course the real culprit was that Homicidal twerp carrying on a vendetta against the line of the Hibikis, a fellow only Ares could like, which was reason enough in Toltir's view to take some drastic action!

He studied the pattern then knew what had to be done and took a leap into the pool, choosing to vanish and reappear within the flow of time itself. This was not without some risk for a God seeing as-reputations to the contrary-they were not totally invulnerable and could even make themselves vulnerable to the laws of Causality that affected all things in regular timespace, to which ordinarily a God would be immune. Had one pointed this out to Toltir he would have merely shrugged and insisted that-even an immortal life-was not as sweet without at least a little hint of danger, and Mischief was what he lived for, so joining in on the fun was simply heeding the call of his idiom.

Besides which there were some Buff Babes who needed rescue, and no way was he going to leave it all to that Sour Puss version of Saotome Ranma...

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921

"Interesting place, if a wee bit depressing," Lylac remarked upon their arrival.

"I am certain that the locals will absolutely thrive on hearing your appraisal of their fair city," Ekko noted with only a mild hint of sarcasm, "But I do agree that I have seen cheerier mausoleums."

"We are looking upon a mainly dead world," Tenko noted with a hint of foreboding, "The human race has been badly decimated and the world is now dominated by a mix of races, both non-human and demonic. It would be Hell by the standards that most humans would apply, with life expectancy to be measured by the length of time you can avoid becoming a victim."

"Horrible," Veil said in a softly worded appraisal of a world that was so much the opposite to the world into which they had been born, her expression filled with apprehension and sorrow as she brought her hands together and began to chant a prayer for the victims.

"There is no time for that, my friend," Ekko said sadly, "The dead are beyond caring...that is, those who sleep beyond their graves, for some of those who are dead are still walking on two legs and contribute to the sorrow. Our objective is that building over yonder, which once was a version of our own Furinkan High School, here a Military academy for those seeking a career in one of the former Home Island Defense forces..."

"More like an Imperial Occupational Army," Tenko corrected, "On this timeline Japan was a dominant world power controlling one third of the planet, which is why the Japanese military was able to conduct such hideous forbidden experiments underneath the High School, using the students themselves as test subjects, making use of their youthful vitality and innocence to fuel many a hell-borne project..."

"Obscenity," Veil hissed, her normally gentle tones now hinting at intense displeasure.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Lylac pointed towards the front gates surrounding the ruins of the building, "Looks like somebody started the party without us."

"Indeed," Ekko took point as the four young girls advanced to the scene of a recent battle, with bodies littering the street, evidencing such extreme and severe levels of carnage that a few were barely even recognizable as human. Ekko knelt to examine one of them then pronounced, "This happened only a minute ago...but these were already long dead...or Undead, if you will. Something tore them apart almost to an atomic level..."

"Three of them," Tenko remarked, "I recognize the energy signatures as high level Chi-force emanations, very similar to Juraian power."

"Indeed," Veil swept the battlefield with a glance, then shuddered, "These were very dark and evil creatures...terrible minions of an even more terrifying power. The three who destroyed them were of a more neutral alignment, but I sense great good in their purpose...and one of them is Saotome Ranma!"

"My Dad did this?" Lylac blinked, "No way! Even Fama couldn't match this level of slaughter..."

"I believe she refers to a different version of Saotome Ranma than the one you know," Ekko replied, "I believe you did encounter a version of your father who was surpassingly gifted at carnage on this level..."

"You mean that angry guy I saw who was beating up on a younger version of himself?" Lylac considered the point, "You may be right about that...he sure gave me the woolies when I was standing right next to him. His energy level was like totally off the scale, and he'd torn up a couple of city blocks without even breaking a sweat..."

"If you don't mind," Tenko nodded towards the gates, "The way has been cleared for us, I suggest we make haste if we wish to catch up with them rather than fall further behind by such analysis."

"I agree," Veil noted, "We are here to right a great wrong that was done to the people of this world, and save the Cosmos itself, which hangs in the balance."

"Okay," Lylac nodded, "I guess we can shelve the debate about who this guy really is who looks a lot like my Dad. I just wonder if we're also going to run into that other version of my Fama...the one who seemed to know a lot about Amazon Lore..."

"A very distinct possibility if these are indeed the trio you encountered yesterday," Ekko replied, and once again she took the point while Tenko levitated to position herself tactically above her friends as they proceeded towards the ruined doors of the main building towards a rendezvous with an even more forbidding destination...

And inside the building the trio in question were following the trail of a set of stairs leading deep under the foundations of the abandoned high School. They met with and dispatched numerous petty sentinels and wandering beasties as they progressed towards their as-yet-unknown objective. With Nabiki leading the way, using her handheld scanner to scope their progress, Ranma and Ryoga flanked her back and kept a watchful eye out for potential dangers. As they went further into the lair of their quarry they encountered more dangerous predators, some of which were anything but human!

"Heads up!" Ryoga called out as they discovered a large chamber that was occupied by some type of plant-like creature.

Ranma moved to intercept the mobile tentacles that had sought to ensnare Nabiki and growled, "Watch yourself there, 'Biki! You don't want these things putting a smile on those dour features..."

"Ha-ha-ha," Nabiki replied sourly as she extended a hand, from which a snake-  
like flame creature appeared to consume the tentacles that were attempting to get at her from her opposite side, "For your information, Muscles, I have no more desire to be the bondage heroine in someone's Tentacle Rape fantasy than you have to win the Miss Universe competition. And watch your own back, Ranma-  
kun, or you'll be the one smiling! I think this thing is female!"

"Figures," Ranma tore into the vines that were attempting to snare them, pruning them away with his hands as though they had been turned into sword blades, "Women always were the bane of my life. If it wasn't for the fact that you're so nicely put together I'd even consider swearing off the breed."

"Why, Mister Saotome," Nabiki almost cooed, "Was that an almost-compliment you paid me? You'll be turning my head at this rate..."

All of a sudden the floor at their feet erupted directly below the three Time agents, and Ranma and Ryoga reacted with lightning reflexes to get out of the way. Unfortunately Nabiki was at the center ground of the massive stalk that burst forth and ensnared her, wrapping her up tight within its coils before she had time to react, even as Ranma whirled around barely in time to see her vanish.

"NABIKI!" Ranma cried out in dismay, and without a second thought threw himself at the coiling tentacles and began ripping his way through them, his thoughts entirely upon rescuing his iinazuke.

"Ranma!" Ryoga cried out in warning, sensing an energy build up from within the plant that built with intensity like a series of escalating energy bursts.

Ranma barely moved back before the tentacle monster was ripped to shreds by an explosion, and moments later Nabiki staggered out, her clothing ripped to tattered bits and her body covered in slime while she looked as though she had just mud-wrestled with Shampoo. Ranma was at her side in an instant as she leaned an arm against him, coughing something out of her mouth that was slimy, like mucus.

"That...wasn't fun..." she gasped, "And if either of you guys so much as says, 'I told you so...'"

"Here," Ryoga took off his leather jacket and offered it to Nabiki, careful not to look in her direction, "I think you need this more than I do."

Ranma gruffly nodded to that and said, "The Pig has a point, Nabs. I don't know what that thing tried to do to you, but it sure was hell on your wardrobe."

"Oh, and like you're complaining about the free show?" Nabiki meant her tone to be accusing, but it came out as teasing instead as she accepted Ryoga's offer and slipped on his jacket, then tested out her wrist-com and said, "Ryo-  
chan...do you read me?"

"Barely," Ryonami replied, "There's a lot of static on the line, and your com's reporting a lot of external damage, like you dipped it in acid or something. What the hell happened, Boss?"

"We had a little encounter and things got...messy," Nabiki replied lamely, "Mind sending me a change of wardrobe here...and a portable shower unit? My hair is a mess and I need a bath something awful..."

"Did Saotome try to get fresh with you or something?" Ryonami asked, "Honestly, the least you'd think he could do was wait until after you're married..."

Ranma made a sputtering noise in protest as Nabiki eyed him slyly and said, "Ranma-kun has been a perfect gentleman the whole time, Ryo-chan, it was the other guy who got a little too fresh, if you like dating an octopus."

"No thanks," Ryonami replied, "I prefer my Kalamari raw but not squirming. I'll have that unit and clothes over to you in a jiffy."

"I wonder what this thing was that attacked us," Ryoga noted as he surveyed the ruins of the tentacle rape monster, even as a soft humming noise signified the arrival of Ryonami's "package."

"Ever see the 'Angel of Darkness' series, Ryoga-kun?" Nabiki asked as she started assembling the portable shower, then handed Ryoga's jacket over to Ranma and casually began stripping herself naked.

"Uh...no," Ryoga remarked as he forced himself to look in the opposite direction to which Nabiki was standing.

"I have," Ranma said gruffly, taking full advantage of his status as Nabiki's iinazuke to watch her step into the Portashower, (and besides, he would have insisted, he didn't want to risk taking his eyes off of her and giving something else the chance to attack her), "Once. Didn't understand it a whole lot at the time, but then again you know how wise in the ways of the world I was as a kid..."

"Exactly," Nabiki's voice filtered through the shower curtain, "A science Experiment went awry when a demonic plant took over a school instructor and turned him into its servant, and then he proceeded to subject young girls to the ravishment of the plant creature in order to feed it with the energies generated by tentacle sex..."

"That's...disgusting!" Ryoga balled his fists, thinking of helpless girls being subjected to such perversions.

"No argument there," Nabiki replied as she stepped back out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her body, catching Ranma's admiring look and pretending to give him a return look of disapproval as she unfolded the clothing Ryonami had sent and began to redress herself, "Of course in the end of the Anime a heroic girl teams up with some Fairies to put the demon plant back in its place, only it slips away to cause trouble at yet another High School, and so forth. In a way I enjoyed that one more than some of the other Anime in the genre, but I never thought I'd be playing the heroine myself."

"If I remember right," Ranma said, "The heroine there was supposed to be a Lesbian."

"And what exactly do you mean by that, Saotome?" Nabiki asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," he replied, "Except maybe you fit the role more than you'd like to admit."

"And how exactly do I do that?" Nabiki wanted to know as she slipped on new footwear, completing her new wardrobe in the form of a "Power Executive" type businesswoman, "Don't tell me you have doubts about my sexuality, Ranma-kun? You don't think I have an interest in your manly profile?"

"I never said that," Ranma replied with a pacifying gesture, "But you never made any secret about you swinging both ways, Nabiki. After all, you call Ryonami Ryo-chan for more than just friendly reasons."

"Yeah?" Nabiki said in a challenging tone of voice, "So I've slept with her a couple of times, big deal..."

"I've talked to guys around the office who were in a position to know," Ranma said dryly, "It was more than a couple of times for you two."

"So what, three or four times," Nabiki threw up her hands, "You make it sound like such a big deal..."

"Seventy-eight times," Ranma corrected, "Including that time you nailed her in the closet at that office party..."

"Seventy-eight, seventy-nine, who's counting?" Nabiki frowned, "And who the hell has been keeping count of these things anyway, huh?"

"Ryonami," Ranma replied with an innocent expression, "It was part of a betting pool she had going on the sly."

Nabiki stood stock still for a moment, then casually touched her wrist-com and said, "Ryonami...!"

"Hey, I was just proving a point with the guys in the secretarial pool!" Ryonami protested, and one could almost visualize her sweating as she spoke, "It wasn't like I told anyone which side you like it on...OOPS..."

Nabiki lowered her wrist and murmured under her breath, "One of these days I am going to have to have a long talk with that girl and her betting habits..."

"Um...guys?" Ryoga still did not turn around as he addressed them, "Can we get going now, maybe save this for later?"

"Right," Ranma nodded, "You feel up to it, Nabs? I hear some girls like to take a smoking break after they do it and..."

He turned his shoulder just in time to receive the slap she gave his arm, then the both of them smiled knowingly, their teasing banter having lightened the mood for the both of them after the near-fright they had each just received by Nabiki's close encounter.

As the three Time Agents proceeded ahead into the lair of even greater menace, a figure emerged from concealment and studied them with wary eyes, then mused softly under his breath, "Well...what do you know? If I'd known 'Biki could be that much fun to be around in the old days, maybe I wouldn't have had to kill her."

"This one is different from the one you remember," his companion, a woman with pale green hair, remarked, "The taint of evil is not inside her, and she withstood the attempted implantation."

"Yeah, and that guy's a lot more dangerous than even I was when I was his age," the man nodded, "You think maybe we've found ourselves some allies?"

"We will see, Ranma-kun," the woman nodded slowly, and then together they rose up into the air and phased through the walls of the corridor to shadow the new arrivals and discover their true purpose...

Continuum #32145896

Roll Call:

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome-16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo-17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno-17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo-20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185

"Well, young lady," Saotome Nabiki remarked as she surveyed the black haired boy currently drying himself off with a towel, "It sounds to me as if you've had quite a series of adventures."

"Tell me about it, Auntie," Ranko-kun remarked before turning to look at the sex-changed girl (now boy) named Silver, "I don't get it...not only does your hair change color but it also changes STYLE when you get wet? How in the blazes did you work that?"

"I dunno," Silver-kun replied, "I was born with this curse, I never really understood how it works. Since Jusenkyo was destroyed in my parents' time it's not likely that I'll ever understand it either..."

"Wait a minute," Rinse frowned, "Jusenkyo was destroyed? How did that happen?"

"And how can you still be cursed if the place that gave you your curse no longer exists?" Tachi also wondered.

"Like I said, guys," Silver-kun replied impatiently, "I don't understand it-OW! Hey, watch it!"

"Fascinating," replied a girl whose name was Kachima, who studied the way Silver's hair shifted from black to white and went from a pig-tail to a pair of Amazon odangos, "It appears that you metamorphosize instead of merely transform, like our father. An interesting variation of his curse..."

"Kachima-chan," an identical looking girl named Kokaku chided her twin sister, "That wasn't very nice. These people are our guests and we should treat them with respect. At the very least you should offer the hot water first before pouring it on them."

"Speaking of which," Rinse glanced towards her mother, "Where is Father? Does he work somewhere earning a normal paycheck?"

"Your father?" Shampoo grinned in mischief, "He's out on another training Mission teaching my eldest daughter, Shanma, and our son Mace, about Saotome School martial arts."

"You came at a bad time if you expected to run into him," Nabiki said, glancing down at the pendant on Ranko-kun's breast before adding, "And if you're thinking of making off with one of my daughters, you can forget it! I don't let my children play with strange pendants, young lady. After all, you never know where they might have been before you got them."

"Wish somebody had told me that before," Ranko-kun half-smiled before she turned to Kachima and said, "Thanks, but I'd rather be the one to pour it on me, okay?"

"Unfortunately the decision may not be ours to make, Aunt Nabiki," Watazashi said reluctantly, "The pendant appears to have its own list of priorities, and sister Ranko is dependent upon the item for her continued existence..."

"Wow!" cried Ryeka as she phased through the wall behind Yuan-Yen, "This place is a lot like your home, Rinse-chan, only it's got more rooms added..."

"GAH!" Yuan-Yen almost jumped with fright, "Don't ever do that to me, okay?"

"Huh?" Ryeka looked at the brown haired girl, "What's your problem?"

"My sister apparently isn't used to you walking through walls, Ryeka-chan," Tachi replied as she laid a hand on Yuan-Yen's shoulder, "It does take some people time to adjust to these things, you know."

Ryeka shrugged, "Whatever."

"Hmph," Atari sniffed from where she levitated near to the ceiling, "Peasant..."

"You wanna start something?" Ryeka growled as she glared up at her rival.

"Knock it off, you two!" Tinkerbell hovered in the space between the blue and green haired aliens, "This isn't the time or the place to do any fighting!"

Akira turned to Nabiki and said, "I apologize if we're intruding upon the sanctity of your house, Aunt Nabiki..."

"Think nothing of it...Nephew," Nabiki quirked a smile as she said this, "I don't think this place would feel like home if somebody wasn't starting something up over nothing at all. If anything this has been a rather slow day just before your arrival, so...what can I do to help you?"

"I think some food would be in order," Shampoo remarked as she entered the room with a tray of candied rice balls with soy sauce, "Busying yourself about the cosmos can't be too good for your digestion, and I'd be amazed if you had even had time for a snack between transports."

"That's Aunt Shampoo," remarked a young girl named Kinko Kuonji, "Always thinking of the basics."

The teenagers began digging into the snacks provided, biting into the rice balls, to which Watazashi made a noise of hearty approval, "Delicious! A worthy confection to satisfy an empty palate."

"I prefer okonomiyaki myself," Kinko said between mouthfuls, "Long as my Mom didn't cook them."

"And...where is my mother?" Ranko asked hesitantly as she gobbled hers down, then glancing at Kinko, who did not seem that much older than puberty but had a disturbing familiarity about her.

"Your mother being...?" asked a handsome brown-haired youth named Honsamu as he came into the room with another tray loaded down with okonomiyaki (his wearing chef's gear being a dead giveaway to his relationship with a certain Kuonji of distinction).

"Saotome..." Ranko caught herself and amended, "Tendo...Tendo Akane."

"What?" Kinko blinked her eyes, "You're talking about my mother?"

"Our mother," Honsamu corrected, "And here she's known as Kuonji."

"Huh?" several of the timetraveling youths said together, then Rinse added, "You're kidding! Aunt Ukyo married my other Mom, Akane?"

"Is that any more far-fetched than the idea of my little sister marrying Ranma?" Nabiki countered, shaking her head, "Can't imagine that one myself...those two can barely be civil to each other when they're in the same room. The bickering gets so bad sometimes that Shampoo and I have to keep them separated."

"Oil and Water, those two," Shampoo shook her head in dismay, "The thought of them together makes me wince, and I happen to like Akane very much, seeing as we've been sparring together since we were kids. Ukyo married Akane about the same time that she married Ryoga-kun in a separate wedding ceremony, and the three of them live happily together running a chain of restaurants. Ryoga's son by Akane is named Godei and he's best friends with my son, Mace. In fact he's training with our husband, who being Ryoga's brother is naturally family..."

"There is that association is once again," mused Watazashi grimly as she blew around the edges of an okonomiyaki, "So, Ryoga truly is my uncle, and my parents never even told me."

"Godei," Ranko said aloud, "Boy, is that name ever familiar..."

"It seems another consistent factor to an even larger puzzle," Tachi murmured in agreement.

"Excuse me," Akira pointed out, "Do the men in this family train separately from the women?"

"Oh no," Nabiki replied, "But the Fighters tend to train apart from the rest of our children, especially those of us with...unique talents. Kachima is an apprenticed Lore Master, Kokaku is training to be a healer, while Nauru...my niece by my other sister, Kachu..."

"Excuse me," Silver looked at this serenely calm version of her Aunt Nabiki, "You have a sister named Kachu?"

"An older half-sister," Nabiki replied, "Her mother was an Amazon named Silk, who looked a lot like my mother did when they were the same age. Kachu is a Devil Hunter, training her daughter to be a Spiritualist Healer, while my niece by my other older sister, Kasumi, is named Kusariboru..."

"Ball and Chain?" Yuan-Yen translated.

"What an intriguing name," Watazashi mused.

"If she's anything like Gel-chan..." Silver shook her head in dismay.

"Her name describes her all right," Kinko snorted, "She's into all kinds of weirdness, kinky stuff mostly, but she's also a Witch in training."

"Sorceress," Kokaku corrected, "She's an Amazon Mage in training, and a very good one from my understanding."

"Just watch your back around her," Kachima added, "Kinko's right about her being...kinky."

"Hentai more like," Honsamu shrugged, "But other than that she's mostly harmless."

"And what are you training to be?" Tinkerbell asked the handsome youth.

"A chef," he replied, "more or less...but I'm also an apprenticed apothecary on the side taking Herbal and Shiatsu lessons from Uncle Tofu."

"Nauru's also got a crush on you, Big Bro," Kinko said in a teasing manner.

"Watch it, Squirt," Honsamu said in a teasing voice, "You're not too big to spank you know."

"Just try it," Kinko balled her fists and gave him a hard grin as if relishing a battle between siblings.

"And what's your deal?" Ranko asked the younger girl, "What are you into?"

"I'm kind of a bit of everything," Kinko grinned affably, "I'm a fighter and a mage. I pick things up wherever I can and combine them into my own techniques, but mainly I'm into computers."

"Fight Simulations to be precise," Kachima added, "Despite her youth, Kinko-chan is quite a clever little Nerd, and she programs the holographic computer in the dojo to help in training."

"She's actually quite a clever little girl," Kokaku said even more pleasantly, "And very strong for her size..."

"Who's little?" Kinko pouted, "I'm only a few years younger than you guys!"

"You know," Ryeka commented, "As fascinating as it is to see how things are on other worlds and all of that, I'm starting to wonder if we're ever going to be getting around to facing the big crisis."

"Crisis?" Atari looked at her in mild confusion.

"Well, it only stands to reason that there's some big purpose for us all being gathered together, right?" Ryeka pointed out, "With this much raw talent we must be going up against something big, maybe even something worthy of a good brawl, and I'm starting to look forward to that because these side-trips are beginning to get as dull as one of Grandma's Science lectures."

"A good point that," Watazashi turned reluctantly to Nabiki, "We thank you for your hospitality, and this fine food that you've been sharing with us, but I fear we may be leaving sooner than any of us know, so in advance I should like to say that it has been fascinating meeting you, Saotome Nabiki. You remind me so much of my beloved Yuan-Yen's parent that I have no qualms about calling you Auntie."

"The feeling's mutual," Nabiki smiled, "You mother sounds a lot more stable than the Kodachi who my sister shares a house with. I'm sure my Ranma will gag at the thought that he could have married her on some parallel of our world."

Shampoo chuckled softly and said, "You've got that right, Nabiki-chan!"

"It seems a shame to eat and run like this," Akira sighed, "I wouldn't mind staying to meet up with my...half-sister."

"That's what you think, big boy," Kinko said wryly, then blinked her eyes and said, "Hey...what's with all the pretty colors?"

"Colors?" Kokaku asked in mild surprise.

"Fascinating," Kachima said as she swept a glance over the newcomers, "You're all losing focus and becoming a bit transparent..."

"Hey, you're right," Silver glanced around, "It's starting again!"

"Not again," Tinkerbell groaned, "How often is this gonna happen?"

"Until we reach our final destination, I suppose," Watazashi noted.

"I don't like your use of the word 'final,'" Rinse winced as the party dematerialized.

"Arigato, Mom," Tachi said to Nabiki, "It's been a real trip! Wait'll I tell my Mom that I met a version of her that's a real-live Lore Master..."

"If she's anything like me..." Nabiki started to say when the time-crossed youths vanished, to which she heaved a sigh, "...She'll probably be having nightmares about it."

"Oh my," Kokaku glanced around, "Where did Kinko-chan go off to?"

"Sis?" Honsamu blinked, looking down at the cushions where his younger sister had been seated, "Kinko-chan?"

"I think the pendant selected its victim, Mother," Kachima glanced at Nabiki, "Only why did it select her instead of me?"

"I don't know," Nabiki exchanged looks with her wife, and Shampoo shrugged in mutual acceptance of this odd development.

Meanwhile the party itself re-materialized in yet another place, once again outdoors, only along a section of town that was normally a vacant lot in many a dimension.

In this one, however, it was occupied by a rather large building, shaped like an oversized dojo.

"What the hell?" Ranko gasped, turning to see the sign hanging near the entrance to this building.

"That was my line," Silver noted.

"The Miroku Okonomiyaki and Dojo," Watazashi read aloud, "How very odd...it appears to be both a restaurant on the outside and a school for martial arts within."

"A restaurant that's part dojo?" Yuan-Yen blinked.

"Sounds suspiciously like Aunt Ukyo had a strong hand in this," Tachi concurred.

"Didn't we just eat?" Akira wondered.

"I guess we have another pickup to make here," Rinse shrugged, "Only I wonder what kind of siblings we're going to encounter this time?"

"Hey, neat!" Kinko said with enthusiasm, "It reminds me a lot of my folks' place! Only my home isn't nearly this big!"

Watazashi glanced at the young brown-haired girl with a very soft, "Eh?"

"I think it has enough space to make a passable Inn," Atari murmured from her aerial vantage, "The portion devoted to the living quarters certainly warrants the designation."

"Guess we'd better go in and find out what it's like," Tinkerbell noted.

"I'm all for it!" Ryeka grinned heartily, "If this Ukyo cooks even half as good as Ryoukio's mother..."

"I hear you on that," Rinse smiled, "That snack we just ate barely warmed my stomach."

"Well," Ranko shrugged indifferently, "What are we waiting for? Let's go meet the family."

"I second the motion," Watazashi agreed, and as one the ten girls and one boy headed for the restaurant entrance, prepared for the unexpected, though not as prepared as they might have believed for what they were about to encounter...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Comely Fetishes for your Amusement: shadowmane

The gang is in for a real treat this time (and for those of you who've read "La Blue Ukyo" you can pretty much guess that I'm not talking about okonomiyaki!). Next time Ranma, Ryoga and Nabiki run into some new playmates and more is revealed about what is threatening the time stream. Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	9. Chapter 9

RanSquared8

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; others)

Chapter Eight.

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji -16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki -17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato -16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921

Toltir manifested in the material realm, shifting from his normal Cat mode to that of a human male, well dressed in a dark leisure suite that gave him the look of a playboy. He glanced around at his drab surroundings and sniffed the air slightly before wincing, then murmured to himself, "Terrific...I hate Darkfic Universes..."

He glanced around, using more than the eyes and ears of a human mortal to make out his quarry. Sure enough the scent of comely young mortal women drew his attention and he smiled a rakish smile, thinking Tom-Cat thoughts and only regretting that one of these girls was not a child of Kasumi's.

Well...the Morisato girl came pretty close, he mused, close enough that he could enjoy looking her up, and if she was even half the babe that was her mother...

Toltir's smile revealed the gleam of teeth as he considered his options. True this world was a depressing sort overall, but given the quality of material he had to work with here he was definitely looking forward to this assignment...

"What happened here?" Tenko murmured as she saw the ruptured vines, splattered plant gore and other telltale signs of a recent battle.

"Offhand I'd say something chewed up a bit more than it could swallow," Ekko replied, "I would suggest that we be prepared in case the thing that died here has any close relations."

"Horrible," Veil was murmuring softly, "So much death and suffering...the demon world has much to answer for in this."

"No doubt about that," Lylac mused, "Of course with demons of this sort that tends to be a given."

"Let's not forget that Maya is also part demon," Tenko pointed out, "Three quarters to be precise, but she's a relatively nice girl and a good friend of ours."

"Maybe," Veil replied, "But Cousin Maya is nothing like her mother because she chooses to act differently, taking more after my Aunt Urd, her fama."

"Not that bad, I should hope," Ekko mused softly, "But the type of creature we may be encountering here is not the sort concerned with making contracts that either help or hurt mortals."

"That's putting it mildly," Lylac replied with mild distaste, "I've been on dates where the other party hasn't been able to show that much restraint, but I've never dated a real octopus, and I've no great desire to have a blind date with a tentacle rape monster."

Ekko suddenly paused in mid-stride and her tone became grim, "Then perhaps you had better consider the prospect, because I sense trouble ahead."

The four women grouped together in a defensive diamond-shaped wedge, giving just enough space between one another so as to allow the others maneuvering space, even as they saw glowing eyes appear from the gloom that surrounded them, accompanied by soft gibbering noises.

"I might be mistaken," Veil glanced around with only slight evidence of worry upon her face, "But I believe we are surrounded."

"Heads up!" Lylac cried out as her hands became twin blurs, intercepting the rope-like tendrils that shot out towards them and batting them aside.

Ekko showed far less concern or emotion as she allowed the tentacles to come near enough to her to be a serious threat, then shot into full motion, gathering them up and tying them together into knots before giving a heave and toppling the demon over who had sent them.

"Not bad," another demon murmured, "You girls look like you could be worth some fun."

Tenko's hand began glowing as she cupped them together, and in a soft voice she said, "I would not recommend it."

"Shikima," Veil sighed in soft exasperation as she gathered up her own power, "I should have suspected."

"Not the worst sort that we might have encountered," Ekko murmured, "But still troublesome nonetheless."

Lylac batted away another set of tentacles using her Amaguriken-boosted speed to hold them at bay, but she could sense more tendrils snaking towards them from an unprotected flank. Fortunately Veil sensed this too and raised a hand, softly chanting as the power flowed from within her, shocking the creature away as though it had been slapped with one of her Aunt Urd's infamous sky bolts.

"These things are but an annoyance to us," Ekko murmured, "I suggest we finish them off quickly so that we might catch up with the others."

"Agreed," Tenko replied as she blasted one demon that came too near to her, then pulped another who foolishly gave her a clear shot, "Veil-chan...it is up to you. We'll buy you the time you need."

"Understood," Veil replied, and at once she began crafting a spell while the others moved around her to provide needed protection.

"What's that going to do?" the lead demon asked as he sensed the build up of power, only far too much raw energy for an ordinary mortal girl to handle, which prompted him to say, "What...?"

"Though Sky and Earth I Summon the Kings Elemental!  
Through Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Wood, Iron and Ether I conjure thee, O' Lords of Creation To heed the bidding of the One Supreme,  
So Speaks Creation's Daughter!"

The blast of light and radiance that shone out from her body as she extended her hands and unleashed the spell briefly filled every corner of the room while her three companions covered their eyes and braced for the wave of force that rolled over their backs like a thunder clap. The sensation passed mere moments later, and when the companions could look again they saw the room had been scorched clean of all demonic substance.

"Shall we be on our way?" Veil asked as they briefly accessed this.

"Uh...yeah," Lylac said hesitantly, "Sounds like a good idea to me, right guys?"

"I have no problem with this," Ekko noted calmly, and she started forward with cool nonchalance.

"I hope this didn't delay us by too much," Tenko agreed as she and Veil followed.

"I must be nuts for letting myself be talked into this," Lylac murmured to herself, but nonetheless she followed, too, determined not to be left behind beyond the safety of her powerful companions...

"What was that?" Nabiki glanced back over her shoulder.

"Felt like somebody opened up a mini-nuke back there," Ranma mused as he glanced back the way that they had come, "Think it might be more trouble?"

"Could be," Ryoga turned back towards the end of the hall that they had been transversing, "Hey, what's that?"

Nabiki glanced at her portable scanner, "It's what we came here to find. Better push on ahead...whatever blew up back there, either it will catch up with us or it won't."

"I like your thinking, Nab-chan," Ranma smirked in grim humor.

"Just being practical, Ranma-kun," Nabiki replied, "Which, after all, is what I'm best at."

"I thought getting me into trouble was what you were good at," Ranma countered.

"Just you wait until the Honeymoon, Saotome," Nabiki grumbled to herself, "You'll find out I'm more than you can handle."

"Hey, I already knew that part," Ranma said back in an affable tone of light banter.

Ryoga just rolled his eyes and said, "Maybe you two should go rent a hotel room and call me when you get this out of your system. And you guys are always calling me clueless..."

Nabiki shot an amused glance at Ranma, who grinned back and said, "For once the Pig is making sense. I-hey...check this out!"

All three companions came to a halt at the threshold of a very large underground chamber. It was several stories high and had rows of observation booths and complex scientific equipment, and in the center of the room was a large object, roughly circular and looking something like a carousel, only it was plain at a glance that it had a far more sinister purpose.

"Kami-sama..." Ryoga breathed as he found himself repelled by the very look of the thing, "What the hell is that?"

"Nab-chan," Ranma murmured softly, "Is that what I think it is?"

"You've seen that Anime too, huh?" Nabiki replied with a mouth suddenly very dry, "Ryo-chan wasn't kidding when she compared this to Urotsukodoji...that definitely looks like the Murder Wheel employed by a certain deranged Nazi Scientist and his demonspawned offspring."

"Like I figured," an unfamiliar voice said from far overhead, "Everybody's a critic."

The three Time Agents lifted their eyes and saw four menacing figures perched atop a device protruding from one of the walls overhead, each dressed in the same type of form-fitting body-suit, and each one equipped with a monocle-like head-piece that covered one eye, giving them an ultra-tech look to match their overmuscular bodies.

More alarming still was the sheer force of the life energy emanating from this four being, hinting at tremendous latent potential that could not be rated upon the ordinary scale of Chi-enforced mortals.

"The Shogun warned us that we had intruders in his stronghold," the lead of the four spoke with calculated malice, "And lucky us, we get to kill you, which ought to be a lot of fun considering the ease with which you dispatched those losers henchmen, the Eight Devils."

Ranma took in the lead as a not very tall fellow whose spiky black hair jutted upward as though he had a serious case of the frizzes. The arrogant smile, cruel eyes and confident bearing all added up to one thing, and he groaned very softly to himself, "Saiyajin...why does it always have to be Saiyajin..."

Continuum #57821964

Roll Call:

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Morobishi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.

The "Miroku House of Okonomiyaki and Dojo" was a sizeable structure that appeared to have three stories and two distinctive parts, the front one being almost tent-shaped with a friendly exterior that constituted the main restaurant. The rest of the complex structure was a horse-shoe like "U" shaped building that wound around a large interior grotto that was also part indoor garden. This much the time travelers were able to determine when they stepped through the main doors and could see the interior section that was open to the public.

What was most curious to the travelers was the fact that a part of the restaurant was devoted to a wide square platform roughly ten-by-ten meters square and covered by a gray matting. Upon this square a full scale martial arts brawl was underway between two girls clad in colorful Cheongsam-style pantsuits, one having bright purple hair, the other green hair done up in a pig-  
tail braid, and from the looks of things they were pulling no punches, yet somehow managing to make their battle appear stage choreographed for the amusement of the audience attendees.

This was not the only peculiar sight that they witnessed as off to one side a young man wearing an okonomiyaki chef's outfit, complete with headband, was standing before a grill busy flipping orders as fast as the customers around him could give them. There were many oos and aahs from the patrons as they applauded the youth, who smiled at them while not missing a beat, his spatulas moving so fast that they were barely a blur in his hands as he dished out okonomiyaki, aiming them onto plates to the further amazement of these patrons.

Off to another side of the same huge room was a young girl with bright pink hair performing a juggler's act with flaming torches, further enchanting those customers sitting in amazement at her skill and daring. This added to the general carnival-like atmosphere of the place and gave one the impression that it was a family-friendly atmosphere. It seemed as much a three-ring circus as a place of eating, and darting between the tables was a small army of beautiful women wearing Chinese style side-slit dresses serving as waitresses, some handling trays that were so heavily laden that they almost seemed to weigh as much as they did.

As the party took this in at a glance, a woman that was instantly recognizable to nearly everyone in their group approached them and ask, "Nihao...may I be of service?"

The word "MOM!" was practically on several lips when Tachi smoothly stepped forward and said, "Table for a party of twelve, please. We're new in town and wanted to see for ourselves your outstanding restaurant."

"Ah so," Shampoo said with a bright smile, not recognizing the party themselves, (though she did briefly glance at Rinse and Silver with a slightly puzzled expression) before waving a hand and saying, "You have heard of our too-too delicious food and outstanding service. Please to follow this way, I will have a girl assigned to your table so that you may order what you like from our Internationally renowned menu."

"Thank you," Tachi bowed, "It is a delight to find that your reputation for hospitality is indeed unequaled. Come along everyone."

As they group followed Tachi's lead, Silver leaned over to Ranko and murmured, "Smooth talker, ain't she?"

"You have no idea," Rinse replied for her, "Cousin Tachi could sell Eskimos a supercoolant system and make them cough up a sizeable down payment."

"Indeed," Watazashi remarked, giving Yuan-Yen a wry look, "Perhaps you should take lessons."

"Hmph," Yuan-Yen herself remarked, though whether in agreement or envy could not immediately be determined.

"Aunt Shampoo as a head waitress," Akira mused, "Well, I suppose that beats her former job as a Head Waiter..."

"This place is amazing," Tinkerbell remarked, floating a half-meter behind the party until Ranko grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down to eye level.

"What are you trying to do, draw attention to us?" the redhead hissed, "Act nonchalant guys! We're not rubes, we're tourists!"

"A fair point that," Watazashi remarked, pointing upward without turning her face to draw notice, "But perhaps someone should tell them?"

Rinse groaned even before she looked up and hissed, "Guys!"

"Eh?" Ryeka glanced down.

"Something troubles you, Darling?" Atari seconded.

"Wow," Kinko watched the two flying girls, then turned her attention back to studying the fight that was still in process, "Those guys are pretty good."

"I'd rate them as better than fair," Akira noted, "But they're obviously pulling their punches, and you can tell that they're refraining from using Ki-attacks."

"I noticed the same thing myself," Tachi murmured, "Their display is impressive, but obviously tailored for the amusement of the public."

"Which actually takes a lot more skill than if they really were going all out," Yuan-Yen noted in the same level tone of voice, "I think we've definitely run into a nest of highly skilled brothers and sisters from this plane of existence. The only question is...which one of them is the Nexus?"

"Got me there," Ranko glanced down at the pendant and murmured, "I guess it'll decide that as soon as we encounter her...or him."

They were shown to a low-sunk area that was well cushioned and could easily accommodate a full dozen at the tea-table settings that they gathered around, and then Shampoo excused herself and headed back towards the kitchens. A moment later a young girl with long dark hair done up in a pony tail appeared before them and said, "Nihao...my name is Tsuyori, I'll be your waitress. How may I be of service to you people?"

The party all turned to look at this new stranger, whose name meant "Powerful," and who certainly looked it. In spite of a slender, sturdy frame there was a kind of intensity about her that they could feel radiating outward, as well as a distinctly sensualist manner in her bearing and posture that drew the eye like a magnet. Though she was not as well endowed as the pleasant-mannered Shampoo had been, she certainly lacked for nothing in desirable characteristics, and her face was fair enough to stop traffic at mid-day. Her dress showed considerable cleavage, and what was promised within the gulf was most decidedly "More than a handful!"

"Er...excuse me for asking," Watazashi said with no little display of interest, "But your name wouldn't happen to be...Saotome, would it?"

"Why yes," the girl replied in mild surprise, "It is...how did you know?"

"I thought I knew a girl who looked something like you in high school," Watazashi replied, "Only..."

Before she could complete the well-crafted lie, Ryeka suddenly hovered next to the girl and said, "Hello Momma! What side of the bedsheets did your mother pop you out on?"

"I beg your pardon?" Tsuyori asked, glancing up and down to make certain that her first impression was right and that this blue haired girl was definitely not being supported by wires.

Rinse covered her eyes with one hand and groaned softly, "I don't know her...!"

"You wish," murmured Tachi at the same level.

"Forgive the harridan for her lack of proper upbringing," Atari apologized as she levitated to Tsuyori's other side and added, "She merely states that you are of breathtaking loveliness and is overwhelmed beyond her pathetic attempts towards socializing."

Rinse looked up and glared, "Flirtatious couple of twits, aren't they?"

"And of course you're not the least bit jealous," Tachi further teased her.

"Oh yeah?" Ryeka's tone escalated, "Well my social skills don't land me in hot water with the Girl's water-polo league coach after you shocked our team mates during the playoffs!"

"Well, if you hadn't been acting like such a low-bred tramp, then I wouldn't have gotten angry," Atari shot back, and both girls appeared to be on the edge of yet another explosive confrontation.

Tsuyori glanced from side to side then sigh, and reached out with either hand to touch the shoulders of both of the girls, caressing them lightly so that both Green and Blue haired levitating alien rolled up their eyes with a sigh and collapsed to the floor like a pair of limp rag dolls.

"So sorry, honored customers," Tsuyori put her hands together, "I did not intent you friends any harm, but they remind me a little two much of some of my siblings."

"Okay," Silver murmured as she studied the fallen girls, "Now that was something!"

"Impressive," Watazashi agreed, "And performed with so little effort."

"I've wanted to see someone do that to them for years," Tachi said, honestly impressed, "You have got to teach me how you did that!"

"That should be my line," Rinse murmured, observing her slumbering girlfriends.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes..." Tinkerbell murmured.

"Neat!" Kinko grinned, "The Vulcan Neck Pinch, right?"

"Er...not in so many words," Tsuyori seemed to be noticing for the first time just how many of these strangers appeared to have unusual hair coloring, and a few even felt oddly familiar.

"Please excuse us for their rudeness," Yuan-Yen said as Watazashi and Ranko combined their efforts to help the girl named Ryeka over to sit on one of the low-sunk cushions, while Akira and Silver helped Atari to another on the opposite side of the table, "We're new in town and seeking to meet some relatives of ours, who we understood to be working in this restaurant."

"Oh?" Tsuyori asked warily, "Are you friends of the Miroku...or the Suzuka?"

"We wouldn't know either clan if we met," Yuan-Yen said, carefully studying the other girl's expression before adding, "But some of us bear the family names of Tendo and Saotome."

"Oh," Tsuyori relaxed by a measurable fraction, "You mean you're cousins? Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"It's not something that's easy to bring up in normal conversation," Akira replied, "We were looking for the right opportunity, and this seems as good as any."

"Ah," she noted, giving the handsome young man a friendly scrutiny that caused Silver to bristle, until the dark haired girl turned an appraising smile her way, "Well, if you are close relations, then I suppose I could bring this matter up to my elders. Wait here and I'll be right back. In the meantime, I'll have Koi bring you some water and refreshments, just so you won't get hungry waiting for me to return."

She turned to leave, and Ranko murmured to her pendant, "Is she the one?" She paused a moment before saying, "Okay...then who's the other one?"

"Other one?" Rinse asked.

"There's two we're here to nab," Ranko replied, "According to the pendant, that girl we just met is one of them...but I wonder who the other is?"

"There sure are a lot of potential candidates," Tinkerbell glanced around to either side, "Is it my imagination, or do a lot of these girls look kinda similar..."

"Similar?" Watazashi asked, "How do you mean?"

"It's something about their faces...the eyes and jawlines mostly," Tinkerbell replied, "I've got a pretty good eye for details like that, and I'm noticing a kind of sameness to a lot of these girls, like...well, like some of them have the same father or mother..."

"I'm counting close to a full dozen possibles myself," Tachi murmured, "In fact, I'm starting to think we have a full clan of candidates comprising a good portion of the staff at this place, which suggests to me that there could be as many as twenty or more potential players."

"Twenty?" Rinse said in disbelief.

"Or more," Yuan-Yen added, "Consider if Shampoo is working here, and it's an okonomiyaki restaurant, then I'd bet even odds that girl we just met had a Kuonji for a mother. We could be looking at another multiple marriage."

"Are you saying my Dad fathered all these kids?" Silver asked in tones of stark disbelief.

"Wow!" Kinko exclaimed, "And I thought Uncle Ranma was a stud on my world!"

"It is one possibility that we should consider," Watazashi replied, "And judging from the multi-hued rainbow of hair colorings that we have witnessed, I would dare to suspect that father has been most prolific on this timeline, and with a variety of women."

"They don't all look the same," Akira pointed out, "I do see some differences..."

"Nihao," said a bright and perky girl said cheerfully, her blue-black hair slightly tinted to the Indigo range of the spectrum, "My name is Koi, like the Fish, and I'll be most happy to be served to you...ah! I mean, I'd be most honored to be of service..."

"Koi," Watazashi mused with a leer, "I'll just bet you are."

Yuan-Yen eyed her companion with a very sour expression.

"May we see a menu?" Akira asked of the buxom teenager.

"Oh, sure," the girl handed them out as if only just remembering that she was holding them in her hands, her eyes not just taking in Akira with a certain glee as she took an excuse to caress the hands of several of the girls in passing.

"Excuse me," Tachi said with a smile, "But you look somewhat familiar. Have we met in High School?"

"Gosh, no," the girl blushed prettily-although her complexion was more blue than reddish, "I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I met someone like you at school. Are you guys all new to the area?"

"You might say that," Tachi remarked, "My family name is Kuno...and yours is?"

"Mido," the girl replied, "Mido Koi. Gosh...your name sounds like my aunt Kodachi. I was going to say that you look a lot like cousin Thorn," she said as she addressed Watazashi.

"Thorn did you say?" Watazashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, hey, Thorn!" the girl waved to someone passing by, "Come over here! Doesn't she look a lot like you and your mother?"

The girl named Thorn turned out to be one of the pair that had just finished their sparring match, a green haired girl whose hair was done up in a long pig tail. Other than the coloring, she did indeed look a great deal like Watazashi.

Unnoticed by anyone but Rinse, who was seated near to her, Tinkerbell gave a slight intake of breath and colored brightly.

"Oh my," said the green haired girl as she glanced down at Watazashi, "You're right, Koi-chan. If I didn't know any better I'd almost swear she was a relative."

"That may be more possible than you know," Watazashi said as she studied the newcomer, "A most impressive performance you gave out there, worthy of the name Saotome."

"You think so?" the green haired girl smiled, "Personally I think Kitten came close to kicking my butt a couple of times, only now she has to kiss it, so if you'll excuse me...nice meeting you people, especially you, good looking."

As she turned to leave, Yuan-Yen turned a droll expression towards Watazashi and asked, "Good looking?"

"Ah..." Watazashi was momentarily flustered, "The lady obviously has good taste and fine standards...in spite of her somewhat...rustic speech patterns..."

"She sounds a lot more like your father," Tinkerbell noted softly.

"Oh...my head..." Ryeka felt along her temples as she started to regain consciousness, "What hit me?"

"That was my line," Atari murmured, brushing green locks from her forehead, "Did anyone chance to get the number of that spaceship?"

Tsuyori appeared a moment after this had been uttered and said, "My apologies, Koi, but Mother would like to see these people in her office right away. Would you please follow me? The offices are this way."

A quick exchange of looks around the table was followed by Ranko getting to her feet with a sigh, "Okay, I guess we might as well get this show going."

"That would seem prudent," Watazashi noted.

"It's just as well," Tachi said as she set her menu down, "Did you see some of these prices?"

"That's the restaurant business for you," Yuan-Yen agreed in the same dry tones, "If you're not dealing in high volume, then you're bound to have to sell your food wholesale, plus substantial interest."

"Well, we do have a rather large business to run," Tsuyori noted as she turned to lead them from the room, "And allowances aren't cheap, as my sister, Price, can tell you..."

"Price you say?" Watazashi mused, "Price is no object for us, is it darling?"

Yuan-Yen blinked, "Ah...'Zashi? I've been meaning to bring that up with you..."

"What?" Watazashi blinked, "Don't tell me...?"

"You know when we got snatched while back at the hot tub?" Yuan-Yen said a bit nervously, "We kinda left everything behind, including my purse..."

"Don't worry, guys," Tachi said to Watazashi's stunned expression, "I've got mine on me, and I think I can spot you a few thousand yen, at no more than a bargain ten percent interest."

"Feeling generous, are we?" Rinse murmured in low sarcasm.

"Uh...say," Kinko glanced back towards the stage, where yet another fight was brewing, "Who are those two? The Fan Dancer and the guy we saw cooking a while ago?"

"Oh, the girl?" Koi smiled, "That's cousin Bukotei, Tsuyori's half-Sis, and her brother's the handsome stud with the oversized spatula, Wulf-chan."

Kinko blinked her eyes, "How many brothers, sisters and cousins do you have around here anyway?"

The girl seemed to think of it before answering, "You mean approximately or at last count? It's hard to keep up in this place."

Kinko's eyes got very bug-eyed until Akira touched her arm and said, "Better not wait around, I think we're about to get some answers."

"We'd better," Silver murmured in barely audible tones, "I think I'm about to have my mind get royally blown here!"

Tsuyori went to a set of double doors and pushed through them, holding one open as the party filed through behind her, then she led the way down a corridor and out another set of double doors, emerging from the main building into the square of triple-rowed dwelling places. As they passed by a lavishly furnished tropical setting they came upon a submerged Jacuzzi in which the girl named Thorn was leaning back while her pink-haired former sparring partner was partially submerged in the foamy hot water with her mouth firmly planted over the bare loins of the other girl, lapping away as if totally oblivious that there was an audience ogling them with unconcealed astonishment.

Tsuyori took no notice of the green and pink haired girl as she continued on past other scenes of near debauchery and luxuriant fornication. One naked girl was being serviced by two guys while a second girl was underneath her suckling on her breasts, while on a mat beside them were two other naked girls knelt down in the classic sixty-nine position furiously fingering and licking each other off to the tune of various groans and grunts of approval. Further off still in one corner a girl was bent down in a kneeling posture with her head and hands held in a bracer while another girl was pumping her in the rear with a strap-on dildo. Two more girls were facing each other crotch-to-crotch while rocking back and forth with a double-donged dildo linking them together.

And standing over them, watching all of this with an aloof expression, was an adult woman with long light brown hair and blue eyes, walking among these horny teenagers like a dominatrix overseeing a harem.

"What kind of place is this?" Ranko asked with very round eyes.

"This is my home," Tsuyori replied, "The home of the Miroku clan, and that's one of our private training sessions you see over there. My brothers, sisters and cousins are practicing the Miroku arts of Sex Craft, which require long and careful study in order to master them to the same degree as our elders. Aunt Fubuki is supervising this training session to see that they get it right."

"Miroku Sex Craft?" Tachi blanked, "I thought that was only a legend!"

"You know about these Hentai?" Rinse asked her cousin.

"They're not just ordinary, common variety Hentai," Tachi replied, "They're Miroku!"

"A legendary branch of Ninja warriors said to be allied with certain demonic entities known as the Shikima," Watazashi noted, "I, too, had thought them only a legend."

"Hey guys!" Ryeka called out, as she appeared from one of the overhead balcony chambers, "Check this out! They got a room decked out like the Marquis De Sade was their interior decorator! And there are a couple of really cute girls all tied up in there, but for some reason they don't want to be rescued."

"Pervert," Atari softly murmured.

"What is this?" Silver murmured, "Some kind of Hentai Universe where everybody behaves like they're in a Porn movie?"

"Could be," Akira mused before giving her a puzzled look, "What do you mean? Have you ever actually looked at a porn movie?"

"Ah..." the silver haired Saotome pretended to glance elsewhere with a faintly innocent expression.

"I have," Watazashi murmured, "And in such a world everyone is beautiful and healthy and eager to please in bed, willing to drop all pretensions and inhibitions at the slightest excuse or the drop of a kerchief..."

"Sounds like heaven for you," Yuan-Yen murmured, then smiled, "And not too bad for me either, as long as there's still some way to make a profit in that setting..."

They came to another set of double doors and were admitted through this into a sizeable hall that looked something like the insides of a Buddhist temple, and there seated at the end of the hall were a group of adults, five women and two men, gathered around like the elders of any conventional dojo, only for their unusually good looks and generally relaxed bearing.

The lead of these women was a purple haired beauty dressed in a silk kimono and holding a fan in one hand in the manner of a Princess. Next to her was a somewhat shorter woman with long black hair styled back in the manner of royalty, but who unmistakably bore the face of Akane Tendo. To her left was Ranma himself, sitting beside Ukyo in the manner of two royal retainers. To the right of the Purple haired girl sat a handsome man that the newcomers did not recognize on sight, and seated beside him in the other arm of the "U" shaped formation were two beautiful women of indeterminate age and considerable beauty, one with green hair, the other brown haired.

"Konichiwa," the purple haired girl said when Tsuyori bowed and indicated them in a formal manner, "Welcome to Miroku House. I am Mido Miko, clan lord of the Miroku, and this, " she indicated the handsome man beside her, "Is my husband, Dan of the Clan Suzuka, our loyal Miroku allies."

"Konichiwa," Tachi bowed, making a respectful gesture, "I am Kuno Tachi, and these are my companions, Saotome Rinse, Saotome Ranko and Watazashi, Tendo Yuan-  
Yen, Saotome Silver, Tendo Akira and-of course, Tinkerbell."

"Hey, what a bout us?" Ryeka growled.

"Ah yes," Tachi sighed, "Masaki Ryeka and Morobishi Atari, and this young sprite here is a Kuonji who goes by the name of Kinko."

"Saotome?" Ranma blurted.

"Tendo?" Akane asked.

"Kuonji?" Ukyo sniffed, "I don't think so!"

"Mom," Kinko said in mild exasperation.

"Actually," Watazashi said, "There is a...reasonably good explanation for this..."

"I should hope so," the man named Dan remarked, "When we saw you on the monitors entering our humble estate there was some obvious concern that you people might be from China."

"Yeah," Ranko said in some irony as she glanced at Silver, "We get that a lot."

"Actually," Tachi hesitated, "It might be difficult for us to prove the truth of our claims, but we are travelers from other places and times who share a common history, but somewhat different backgrounds..."

"They're scents are almost familiar," reported the green haired woman, "I don't smell any taint of the Shikima on them."

"Nor do I," Ukyo stated, and for a moment her eyes began softly glowing, "There is something...otherworldly about them, but I sense no hint of evil...only a powerful aura around that pendant that the redhead is wearing."

"Let me get this straight," Ranma started pointing to Ranko, Rinse, Watazashi and Silver, "You, you, you and you all claim to be Saotomes?"

"That's about the size of it...father," Watazashi replied with clear reluctance.

"Father?" Akane glanced at Ranma and back again, "Say, doesn't she look a lot like Thorn?"

"You don't think Kodachi-chan has been keeping this from us, do you?" asked one of the brown haired girls in amusement.

"I have a feeling the answer is somewhat more complicated than we might imagine," Dan reasoned.

"My thoughts exactly," Miko nodded, turning to Tsuyori, "Call your uncle Ryoga, and ask Nabiki, Kodachi, Kasumi, Shampoo and Fubuki-chan to come in here. I think that they should also hear this. Oh, and tell Botsasu and Ranmaru to watch over the restaurant. I think we're going to be busy for a while hearing this particular explanation."

"It will be as you ask, Mother," Tsuyori bowed and took her leave of the group.

"Mother?" Kinko turned to look at Ukyo, then at Miko, "But I thought..."

"All the children here call me mother," Miko smiled, "And all their Aunts, as well as their biological mothers. It tends to be less confusing for them that way."

"Not everybody does it," Akane shrugged, "But it sure saves on having to count their fingers and toes to remember which of us are their parents."

"Tell me about it," Ranma shared a look with Dan, and both men smiled as if sharing a private joke together.

"Uncle Ryoga is here...as well as the Tendo sisters and my mother?" Watazashi exchanged looks with Yuan-Yen, "Methinks explanations will definitely go both ways on this."

"Both ways is how we like it here," the brown haired girl shared a smirk with her green-haired companion.

"We're surrounded by perverts," Silver murmured to Akira.

"Be nice, Silver-chan," he urged, but it was plain enough by the looks in his eyes that the handsome youth was no less deeply troubled.

Tinkerbell glanced around at the place, hovering off the floor as she was no longer bothering to conceal her levitation, seeing how Atari and Ryeka were already doing their own aerial inspection of the temple-like chamber. She was rather surprised when she felt Kinko tug on her arm to get her attention, then as she turned a polite glance on the younger girl, Kino asked her, "How do you do that without morphing?"

"Morphing?" Tinkerbell asked.

"You know," the girl shrugged, "A Jusenkyo curse."

"Ah," Tinkerbell replied, "Well, my Fama had this really odd curse that turns her into a Fairy..."

"Your what?" Silver asked her.

"Here we go again," Ranko rolled her eyes.

"My sentiments exactly," Rinse agreed in the same tone of voice, wondering if this strange odyssey was going to continue well onto late evening, because it seemed to her that the sun was a bit lower in the sky than she had remembered...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Can You Guess What Happens Next?: shadowmane

Things get fast and frisky for the gang in the next hour, and meanwhile Ranma has it out with a bunch of Dragonball Z rejects, while Toltir makes some quick time with the daughter of Belldandy...or tries to anyway! Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	10. Chapter 10

RanSquared9

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi and others)

Chapter Nine.

(No Sex this time, but plenty of suggestive stuff and gratuitous violence.  
I'm expecting this one to be controversial with some of the DBZ fanatics,  
but other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter)

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo -17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji -16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki -17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato -16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921

Ranma slammed into the side of a mountain and instantly was buried deep in the stone by his enemy, who took great delight in the pain expression this gave him. He had been hurled a full mile when his foeman impacted against his body, driving him out of the lair of the Shogun and away from Ryoga and Nabiki.

"Hurts doesn't it?" Vegita smiled in cruel calculation as he pulled the man up out of the crater he had created, "Get used to it, because I'm only just getting started."

"With what?" Ranma grunted, "With boring me to death?"

Vegita dumped Ranma face-first into the ground, shattering a wide section of what was left of the granite face and partially collapsing it into the cave system underneath it.

"You gotta pretty smart mouth, Punk," Vegita sneered, "It's gonna get you into a world of pain..."

"I've been through pain," Ranma said as he began to pry himself up out of the near-avalanche that had piled on top of him, "I was married for a year, and the girl I married hits harder than you, creep."

Vegita kicked Ranma in the sides like a football and sent him flying back into the wall of the crater and beyond it. Ranma was briefly airborne when Vegita closed in on him, not content to let the fall finish his opponent off, and fully intending to crush him in one devastating attack.

But to his surprise Ranma merely smiled at Vegita and twisted his body in mid-  
air, performing an impossible maneuver that caught the Saiyajin warrior and locking both of his arms behind his back, locking them together in such a way that Vegita could not exert his enormous strength in an effective manner.

"WHAT...?" Vegita struggled to no avail to break the hold as the ground started to loom up underneath them.

"Y'know the problem with you Saiyajin creeps?" Ranma snorted, "You're all mouth about how tough you are and how you can destroy whole planets-Big Deal! All you are is a cheap thug who's been genetically engineered to blow up stuff and destroy things, like that's something you can brag about! Let me tell you, Twinkletoes...destroying things is nothing! What really matters is if you can create something new and important, and in that department, junior, you've really been short-changed."

That was all the time they had before both men went plowing into the ground at high velocity, gouging out a crater that could easily fit a locomotive.

The landing broke Ranma's hold, however, and Vegita wasted no time freeing himself and taking the initiative again, grabbing Ranma by his jacket and slamming him around until even Saotome's teeth were rattled.

"You dare address me with such insolence?" Vegita snarled, "I could crush you like a flea! You're nothing to me, do you hear? NOTHING!"

"If I'm nothing," Ranma gritted and spat, "Then why are you yellin'?"

In response the Saiyajin slammed him into the ground again, half-burying Ranma amid the pulverized rock that had formerly been a solid piece of granite.

"I don't see why a wimp like you even rates the Shogun's attention, let alone why he insisted we drop what we were doing before and come seeking you out."

Ranma opened his eyes and glared at his enemy, "Guess he didn't trust a retard like you to do the job alone, which is why you brought your goons with you."

"What?" Vegita went rigid as he shook the larger man in his hands, "You dare say that to ME? You little punk! I'm gonna rip you apart for that!"

"Yeah, right," Ranma said as he gripped the other man by the wrists and started squeezing.

"Eh?" it was Vegita's turn to grimace in pain as he felt his arms-arms that could rip apart continents-being forced to turn at unnatural angles. He had to let go of his foe into order to ease the pain, giving Ranma the opportunity to kick upward and backflip out of the Saiyajin's grasp, landing effortlessly on his feet to confront his much shorter opponent.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Ranma taunted, "Not used to somebody who can dish it out as well as take it?"

Vegita's reply was direct as he extended his hands, building up his energy level within seconds in preparation to unleash a massive discharge that would have laid waste to half of what remained of the city. But before the act could be completed a set of sledgehammer blows began pelting his face and body, breaking up his concentration and staggering the little man several paces backwards.

"Oh come on," Ranma sneered as he slammed his smaller foeman into the ground with sufficient force enough to bury him part-way, "You didn't honestly think I was gonna let you hit me with that, did you?" and to emphasize his point he slammed Vegita down two more times for emphasis moving so fast that Vegita concentration was further disrupted.

But the Saiyajin warrior managed to shrug off these blows and took to the air the moment he was able, taking advantage of his ability to fly, which Ranma, of course did not copy.

"Your power level is greater than I estimated," Vegita sneered, once more building up a glow about his hands, "Too bad you're only human."

"Human?" Ranma snorted, "I'm a Saotome. That doesn't exactly count as human."

"DIE!" Vegita cried as he unleashed his blast upon Ranma, who merely crossed his arms and stood his ground, his own eyes starting to glow as the blast struck the ground where he stood with enough force to incinerate a mile-deep crater.

But when the fumes of the blast cleared Ranma remained standing where he was, and the ground about his feet was unaltered, even though an area a hundred meters wide now boiled and bubbled.

"WHAT?" Vegita cried, "It can't be! I used enough force to level a mountain!"

"I ain't a Mountain," Ranma growled as his own hands began to glow and his eyes were like blazing infernos, "Like I told you before, I'm a Saotome! MOKO TAKABISHI!"

The energy that he had absorbed from Vegita's blast was now returned to its source greatly amplified by the force of Ranma own spirit. Vegita never even had a chance to dodge or avoid the blast as it moved with the speed of thought and erupted into his face, propelled him backward. He traced an arc nearly five miles long before gravity recaptured him again while Ranma estimated his landing spot and immediately shifted to speeds beyond mortal imagination.

The battle, as it raged, had one spectator who studied all of this with more than casual interest, leaning against what was left of a melted flagpole and formed a sardonic expression. This version of the Saotome boy had gotten flashy since he'd taken on the aspect of an avatar. Most human mortals would never last a second against a Saiyajin of Vegita's power level...but mortal didn't describe Saotome in the least bit these days. Instead it was Vegita who had just bitten off more than his puny, sociopathic mind could even imagine.

"That boy just ain't right," Toltir sighed as he shook his head almost sadly, though it was an difficult question guess to which opponent the Elder God was referring, the Saiyajin or Saotome.

As Vegita came back down to earth, recovering from the stunning force of the blast that he had taken, he found Ranma waiting to greet him with fists at the ready, and he turned barely in time to meet and intercept a hurricane of blows that rained down on him at speeds beyond imagination.

Meanwhile Ryoga was having a tough time of it with his own Namek foeman, a burly mountain of muscle who dwarfed Ryoga in both size and muscle mass. To all appearances he was squashing Ryoga into the floor of the former laboratory and holding him pinned by sheer gravity as well as superhuman power.

"Heh, this one is easy," the Namek-whose name was Bakuro-sneered to himself, "Crushing the life out of him will be no challenge at all..."

Ryoga was finding it difficult to get the proper leverage he needed in order to fight back, to say nothing of the air being cut off by the Namek's body, but both problems resolved themselves as Ryoga stabbed a finger into the ground at his side and caused it to explode in a shower of gravel-like fragments.

"Eh?" Bakuro flinched as his green face was pelted by the sting of the bursting fragments, and for a moment he eased up on the pressure that he was exerting. Ryoga wasted no time digging into the concrete that surrounded him, all but flowing into the stone as he shifted around him until he had the leverage he needed. Bakuro glanced down in annoyance and growled, "Stop squirming and die you little..."

That was when his face went rigid, and all at once pain replaced his gloating, for Ryoga's hands were now free to dig through something other than stone, and though a Namek's skin is ordinarily like armor, it proved to be fragile putty in the hands of Ryoga the Oni Destroyer. Bakuro died horrible as Ryoga tore through is body, not even allowing himself to think on what he was doing as he took the path of least resistance to free himself, which just happened to Bakuro himself!

A moment later Ryoga gasped air and climbed to freedom, covered in the enemy's gore but nonetheless triumphant with the elimination of the second most dangerous of their foemen.

The third most dangerous hung back while the fourth attacked Nabiki, sensing that there was something most unusual about this girl that belied her seemingly soft appearance. His scanners were reading conflicting estimations of her power level, and without more hard data he was reluctant to commit to battle.

This proved wise as the forth assailant-the smallest and weakest of their band-  
was trying to tear into Nabiki, only to find that she somehow flowed out of his reach before his fists could connect, as though her location in normal time and space was entirely arbitrary.

"Stand still and die!" the creature cried in frustration, as Nabiki's image appeared to remain stable for a moment.

"You first," Nabiki replied, and without warning she was suddenly behind the alien creature, her hands jabbing against it in a number of odd places. She stepped away in time to avoid a savage backswing then held her ground as the creature rounded upon her, more determined than ever to crush the life from this annoying insect.

But as he started to lurch forward his body suddenly seized up on him and his muscles refused to obey his commandments. He felt his limbs begin to shake and his body trembled from within, and a blinding pain filled his skull as he clutched helplessly at the air and screamed, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, YOU BITCH?"

Nabiki turned away, ignoring the threat as she turned her attention to the third remaining enemy while the forth began to suffer massive power ruptures all over his body.

"What did you do to him?" growled the hulking Radugo.

"I've killed him, of course," Nabiki replied without the slightest trace of emotions, "He's already dead, he just needs another minute to..." she paused as the explosion of blood jutted out from the spot where the forth most dangerous attacker's head had formerly been, just missing her cheek though some of the gore did strike her jacket, to which she fastidiously brushed some of it off as she added, "Never mind, you get the point..."

The tide of battle appeared to briefly turn against Ranma as Vegita finally got the upper hand while their battle ranged over into a desolate part of the ruined ward known as Nerima. The Saiyajin warrior was hammering away at Saotome's defenses and landing more blows than before as Ranma seemed to be tiring, and Vegita smiled victory, having finally found his enemy's human limits.

"You want to play hero?" Vegita sneered as he staggered Ranma with a solid punch to his gut, another blow moving with the speed of thought to drive Ranma back a hundred feet before his heels dug in to halt his momentum, "Fine! I've slaughtered most of the heroes on this pathetic mudball! I'd have destroyed you puny weaklings by now, but it's been so much fun to play with you...you make such easy targets!"

A solid blow connected against Ranma and sent him flying back through several walls before a building started to collapse over him. For a moment Vegita was content to catch his breath and watch as his foe was buried, then he started to step forward again when the rubble shifted, and Ranma emerged like a Phoenix from the ashes.

"Heh...That all ya got?" Ranma ran the back of his hand against his lip, wiping away the blood that flowed there, "This is startin' to get borin'."

Vegita could not believe his senses as he called on his combat computer to make a reassessment of his opponent. The initial rating for this Saotome Ranma had been around seven thousand, but now he was manifesting a rating of fifteen thousand, and if anything the rating was going up as his body kept repairing itself as fast as it was damaged!

"To restate my point," Ranma said as he took another defensive crouch, "Destroying stuff ain't nothing compared t'th love of a good woman, an' I oughta know. I thought I knew what love was when I got married, only my wife was the high spirited sort and could pound me like this in her sleep, which made her more of a man than you'll ever be."

Vegita was so enraged that for a moment all he could do was stand there in trembling anger. Not only did this Ranma character absorb his best blows but he kept right on coming back with pointless witticisms and insults. It was enough to drive even the most determined sociopath mad! Vegita desired nothing less now than to pulverize Saotome with such force that he would exterminate all of the man's ancestors.

"Got one question before we renew this dance, Loser," Ranma asked, "Why exactly are you working for the Shogun? I thought you Saiyujin had more pride than to take a pay-chit from a retard like Gosunkugi?"

"I...?" Vegita hesitated, wondering himself why he was working for a mere human. He only knew that he had come to work for the Shogun one day when the urge came upon him, and he had since been working to extend the dominion of the demons to other planets.

"Never mind," Ranma nodded, "Kinda thought it'd be like that."

The moment of hesitation ended as Vegita rushed his foe, moving like thought with the intent of finishing the fight with one final blow that would exterminate even this annoying blemish named Saotome. But Ranma just as quickly avoided the Saiyajin's powered fist as he stepped into and past Vegita's guard as though he were sliding through timespace and suddenly another wave of power-  
blows ran down upon the Saiyajin warrior, coming at him at velocities even faster than light and hammering him down into the smaller man right down into the pavement.

Vegita shrugged off these blows and took advantage of his humbled position to grab his opponent by one ankle, slamming Ranma down into concrete and asphalt several times the way he had been slammed before by Ranma. He followed this up by Driving Saotome face-down into the foundations of one building with such great force that They both wound up submerged in the basement.

A moment later Vegita shrugged off the huge slabs of stone and concrete that had covered them and hauled Ranma up by the collar of his jacket. Satisfied that this time the annoying human had definitely felt it, Vegita tossed him lightly aside and said, "You may be tough for your species, but you're not as good as a Saiyajin warrior! All you'll get for your ridiculous pride is an early grave, because this battle's a foregone conclusion!"

Ranma fell heavily to the ground and for a moment did not move, but then-to Vegita's considerable surprise-Ranma started laughing from where he had fallen.

"Pride?" Ranma growled as he got back to his feet once again, battered and bruised but hardly even winded, "I don't got no pride left...none at all! Ain't got no Honor either...lost it a long time ago, not that I ever had that much to begin with."

"How can you...?" Vegita stared in disbelief, seeing a man stand up who by all rights should have been splattered for the amount of abuse that he had just taken. Worse still, his Scouter was detecting a rapid upsurge in energy levels as Ranma's power rating jumped from thirty to fifty thousand!

"Don't got nothing of value, not even the shirt on my back, which is company manufactured," Ranma brushed himself off then assumed a martial arts stance, "Only got one thing that matters to me, the only thing they never took that's mine, the only thing I ever really needed."

"And what's that?" Vegita asked, morbidly fascinated.

"My name," Ranma replied, and suddenly he was all over Vegita, hammering him with blows that flew so fast that the little man had barely enough time to even think to deflect them. One blow penetrated and it was Vegita's turn to go flying, striking a wall with his backside and plowing right through it to the other side of the block. As the Saiyajin came to a rest he heard a voice speaking directly over him and saying, "I AM RANMA SAOTOME OF THE ANYTHING GOES SCHOOL OF MARTIAL ARTS!"

Vegita opened his eyes in time to see the blow coming, put up both hands to intercept the downward strike, but the blow was aimed precisely with all the force and fury of a man who had been through hell and back so many times that he'd earned frequent flyer mileage, and he might as well have tried deflecting the weight of the world as a thousand times a thousand metric tons of force slammed into him, backed by the full weight of a full-scale Mako Takabishi.

The shock wave alone traveled out two miles to level everything that was in its path and completely leveled twenty city blocks within the immediate radius, kicking up a storm of masonry and mortar as ruined buildings were vaporized and deserted corridors flared up in a brief, intensive flashfire blast of Ki-force that fried the air and briefly caused it to catch fire, incinerating all that was contained within it.

The blast took a full minute to subside as though a nine-point earthquake had occurred, followed up by lesser aftershocks as a single figure remained standing in the resulting crater. Ranma stared down at the Saiyajin warrior, who had been severely stunned by the massive blow that would have killed a lesser mortal.

In a deceptively calm voice the somber Time Agent said, "I'm Ranma Saotome...and I don't know how to lose..."

"The problem," Nabiki was explaining in the tense stand-off that was taking place between herself and her opponent, "Is that you vicious, space-faring criminal types always assume a fight comes down to a matter of overwhelming physical power. Saiyajin are the worst in that regard, having their power handed to them genetically, so easily in fact that they come to believe that they are the toughest, strongest and deadliest creatures in all the known Universe, which of course tends to make them overconfident and sloppy."

"And you took advantage of that to trick Itoki into attacking you, giving you the chance to analyze his fighting techniques and determine a counter?" Radugo determined.

"I knew he wouldn't be much of a challenge," Nabiki replied, "His kind never are. They're so quick to pursue blood that they don't even wait to find out if the one facing them is logically a threat or not. The entire philosophy of the martial arts is devoted towards allowing a weak opponent to overcome a stronger enemy..."

"And you think that you can try the same trick on me?" the burly giant clapped his fist into his palm, "I don't think so."

"Of course," Nabiki said casually, not looking the least bit concerned, "There is another side to the art, which I'm sure you are aware of."

"Oh?" Radugo sneered, "And what's that?"

"Me!" cried Ryoga, and as Radugo turned to face the new threat he felt a hand strike him in the kidney, and suddenly a fire-like lightning shot throughout his body, causing nerves and synapses to fire and overload as the full force of the Chi-Shock Wave Attack overwhelmed even the tough composition of his massive body. Radugo staggered, toppled forward to his knees, gurgled once as blood fountained out of his mouth and collapsed with hardly a whimper.

"That a good little man can beat a big man," Nabiki replied, "But a good big man can beat a little man of equal skill. Too bad you never studied the subtleties of the art...and Ryoga-kun, you look like a mess!"

"I feel like it," Ryoga winced, "Took me a while to dig free from that carcass, or I would have been on him sooner. Just don't ask me what that other guy had for breakfast, okay?"

"Deal," Nabiki nodded, "Meanwhile I think you're the one who ought to be using the porta-shower. Get yourself cleaned up and then we can finish up with what we came to do."

"Right," Ryoga started to turn away, then belatedly realized something, "Where's Ranma?"

A meaty thunk signified Vegita's body hitting the floor, and then Ranma vaulted down to easily catch his balance beside his two companions.

"Sorry I'm late," Ranma apologized, "There were a lot of rocks littering the ground between here and where this guy passed out, and I had to make sure to drag him over every one of them. What happened to you, Ryoga?"

"Nothing much," Ryoga said, "You should see the other guy."

Ranma turned to see a lump in one corner of the room and said, "Oh. Forget I asked."

"It's forgotten," Nabiki glanced at the fallen Saiyajin and asked, "Did he give you any trouble?"

"Naw," Ranma shrugged, "That version of me playing Raiden was more of a workout. Twinkletoes here passed out when things got a little hot, though...I actually had to break a sweat this time."

"Amazing," Nabiki remarked, "But then again, when you're the living embodiment of physical destruction, I guess you don't often find playmates that give you much of a workout."

"Don't start with me about that again," Ranma groaned, "This has got nothing to do with me and Shiva..."

"Excuse me, but are we late?"

The three Time Agents turned to see the four young women approaching them from a side-corridor, the very one they themselves had come by as a matter of fact, and for a moment they just stared, and then Nabiki said, "Nani?"

"Hello, Fama," Lylac smiled, glancing around, "Looks like you guys threw quite a party."

"Didn't leave much for us to do," Tenko mused, "But it's good to see none on our side were unduly injured."

"You must be the Saotome Ranma that Lylac has been telling us about," said the pleasant-voiced Veil, "A sincere honor and a privilege to meet you."

"I also see that your reputation for excess carnage and destruction has not been exaggerated," Ekko noted, "Whoever they are, I assume that they deserved it?"

"Er..." Nabiki looked at the purple-haired Lylac, then at the other young women and said, "Excuse me for asking...but who are you?"

"We haven't been formally introduced," Tenko replied, "My name is Masaki Tenko, and these are my best friends, Morisato Veil, Tendo Lylac...and this Titian-  
haired Titaness with the exaggerated Elocution has a mouthful for a name, but we refer to her affectionately as simply Ekko."

"Eileen Kent-Kane Managi Daitokuji, at your service," the redhead in question replied, "Student of the Sciences and all things of a Technical nature."

"Er..." Nabiki looked at the four girls, then her attention swiveled towards Veil, "Did you say...Morisato?"

"Well, yes," Veil replied, "But I..."

"WATCH OUT!" Ryoga cried as Vegita suddenly came back to life and rushed at Veil, clearly seeking to take a hostage, only to find Ekko standing athwart his path, and her fist suddenly filling his vision.

POW!

The Saiyajin was knocked backwards and only managed to right himself after the unexpected power of that blow had nearly dislocated his jaw. He hovered in the air, preparing to summon up his energy in order to fry the offensive humans when Tenko's form suddenly shimmered, her body covered in an alien form of armor while her hands were suddenly clutching a light blade. Tenko leaped into the air and made a single swipe with her energy weapon, passing beyond the astonished Saiyajin warrior before coming back to Earth again as she completed her swing in proper Samurai manner.

Vegita hovered there a few seconds more, and then a line passed all the way through him from head to crotch as the energy contained within his body was suddenly released with a massive explosion. The force was considerable, yet none of it touched the party as Veil had constructed her own barrier while this had happened.

Several dozen heartbeats more, after the debris had begun to settle, Lylac turned back to Nabiki and said, "As you can see, we're here to help in any way we can, and we're quite formidable in our own distinctive respects."

"Okay," Ranma said softly, "Even I'm impressed by that one."

And from the shadows where he was observing this, Toltir shook his head a bit sadly. Too bad, he rather liked Vegita, for all the Saiyajin's brutal ruthlessness. But then again, that was only to be expected when you went up against Shiva's Avatar, one of the Triune aspects of the Lord of Creation and Destruction.

Of course that had only been the Vegita of this world, who had never encountered Goku and Piccolo or learned to modify his ways, and his power level was much less than the Vegita who could intimidate Kami-sama. This one had only been a brutal thug in the image of the Vegita that Toltir knew of on many an alternate dimension, and so this one world would not miss the little sociopath. Toltir could content himself with knowing that the Vegita that he favored would still be around to haunt many another future timeline.

But then he smiled for a different reason, his eyes falling upon the gentle brown haired girl, who bore such a striking resemblance to the divine magnificence that was her mother...

Nabiki was eyeing the girl who stood before her narrowly and asked, "Do your parents know where you are, little lady?"

"Well..." Lylac shrugged, her expression almost a mirror for one that Nabiki had often seen in the reflection of a mirror.

"Right," Nabiki sniffed, "Well, now that you're here, you might as well make yourselves useful. I assume one of you has some idea what this is about?"

"I do, Auntie," Ekko replied, "We're here to save reality itself, at least as we fathom the concept."

"Again?" Ryoga asked as he started to set up the portable shower, "You'd think we'd earn bonus money doing this..."

"Not in this life, P-chan," Ranma snorted, eyeing the four impressive young women at his side before glancing at Nabiki, knowing the both of them were thinking the same thing at once: "I really need a loooonng vacation..."

Continuum #57821964

Roll Call:

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Morobishi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.

Ranko remembered seeing a sign when she had entered this wing of the Miroku House that read, "WARNING, TRESSPASSERS WILL BE VIOLATED," but at the time she had not realize how literal it should be taken.

Sitting in the Temple-like room with her fellow Time Travelers while facing the row of unfamiliar faces sitting across from them, seventeen in all, over two thirds of the number of offspring who were old enough to be considered potential candidates in her quest with about an equal number of underaged children gathered behind them, constituting a humongous extended family that constituted the Clan Miroku. And this was but a reflection of the gathering of parents that she saw on the other side of the room, beaming proudly at the youths while giving Ranko and her group very curious and polite scrutiny, as if trying to match one group to the other.

In fact there were many confusing aspects about the marital arrangements on this timeline, not least of which being that the acknowledged Clan Lord here was Miko Mido and not her father. Miko was married to the Suzuka clan lore, Dan Suzuka, and at least one of the daughters of this house-the vivacious Koi Mido-was the progeny of their union. Of course Miko had children by other people in the room, including the Ranma Saotome of this world...and their daughter was among the oldest here present, a tall girl with the odd name of Kama Sutra Saotome.

Ranko eyed the indigo-haired Kama Sutra, whom the pendant had identified as the second child whom they had come to claim for their party. Kama was very tall and willowy with a cunning smile that suggested a very sensualistic nature, but not in a bad sense as she perceived no actual taint of evil in her aura. Kama was one of those girls who seemed to undress everyone with her eyes while maintaining a steadfast neutrality over whether they be friend or foe, as befit the designated heir of the house Mido. Ranko wondered about the girl's fighting skills, but something suggested in her mind that this Kama Sutra was formidable in a very different sense. She wore a fore-fitting pant suit that flattered her well-endowed figure, and from the way she had moved there was a relaxed ease and bearing that suggested that she was a fluid as quicksilver with good command of her internal power.

The other girls going down the row bore curious names like Kimera and Kurenai, with one girl-the child of Akane and Shampoo (another Fusion, Ranko winced, go figure!) bore the curious name of Bonbori and was as bouncy and kawaii as any Amazon, with a killer right hook that Ranko had seen demonstrated upon an innocent cinderblock in one of the restaurant live demonstrations.

The green-haired Thorn sat beside a black-haired half-sister named Rose, and both were clearly the daughters of Kodachi, while a boy and girl named Achika and Tsuyosa each shared the misfortune of having the last name of Hibiki. Sakura Kuonji was just as silver haired as Silver herself yet had a feral quality in her expression that made her look especially predatory. There was a black haired girl named Kyura, who was Ranko-s full blooded sister, due to the fact that her parents were Ranma and Akane, yet her parents were married to other people and had the rest of their children by other sources, so it was difficult for Ranko to relate here, being an only child and thus unused to such a crowd of close relations (even given the events of the previous day, of course).

She was somewhat amused to note that Rinse was eyeing her counterpart in this universe, a pink haired girl with the curious name of Kitten Saotome, and beside her was an indigo-haired girl with the even more curious name of Bracelet. Among the few boys who were present was a cute lad named Tenshin, who was the son of their father, Ranma, by the brown haired girl named Fubuki, who had somehow also fathered a Fusion daughter upon Ranko's Aunt Nabiki named Price Tendo, a very sly looking girl whom Tachi and Yuan-Yen were eyeing with a curious interest.

On the whole there were so many children born to their promiscuous elders that it was amazing that anyone could keep track of it all, and it was thus unsurprising that the kids tended to call all the adult women either Aunt or Mom regardless of who had been born to whom. Ranma, Ryoga and Dan were referred to as either Uncle or father in the same manner, and while there was a clear demarcation line between the generations, there was also a healthy amount of respect by the children for their parents, since everyone seemed quite comfortable with their overall relations.

Lady Miko listened patiently as Tachi and Watazashi elected to take the initiative and explain about their time traveling adventures and the various worlds that their party hailed from. To Ranko's considerable surprise this improbable lunacy seemed to be taken in stride by both Elders and Children without the skepticism and disbelief that Ranko had fully expected. When Tachi came to a pause in explaining how they had arrived before the Miroku restaurant, Miko nodded and used her fan to indicate Ranko.

"So you are the bearer of the pendant that's caused all of this, and it conspired to arrange it so that you will have to continue wearing it or risk fading out from existence?"

"Uh, yeah," Ranko gruffly replied before remembering her manners, "I mean...yes, I was more-or-less singled out from a group of candidates to be the thing's guardian or mistress...I don't really know why, but I'm kind of stuck with it for the duration."

"How tragic to learn that your world worked out so badly," Miko spoke with obvious sympathy before nodding to Akane, who sat dutifully beside her, "Akane-  
chan used to suffer from the sort of rages that you described as overtaking your mother. Fortunately we caught her condition in time to give her proper treatment, and now she is a much beloved member of our household," Miko smiled with such fondness that it was not difficult to interpret this as more than merely friendship. That Akane smiled back in the same manner was even more puzzling to Ranko, before this odd version of her mom turned a look towards her of great sympathy and compassion.

Oh yeah, Ranko thought to herself...that was the other curious thing...the number of kids born to two women was higher here than any other world that they had visited, barring only Tinkerbell's world, and among those Fusion kids was one named Shikari, who claimed both Miko and Akane for her parents!

"I am sorry to learn that my sister of your world was the cause of so much suffering," Akane began saying to Ranko, "I only wish that there were some way that I could make it up to you...but how could I possibly do that after having cost you your father?"

She exchanged looks with Ranma, who nodded, then said, "You're welcome to stick around and get to know our clan. You kids look all right, for the most part, and the hospitality of the Miroku is second to none."

"You got that right," grinned Ukyo as she reached over and squeezed the hand of her husband, who squeezed back in the same manner as she and Ranma exchanged intimate looks of their own, then both turned to regard Kinko, who was staring at everything with her mouth hanging open.

"Alas, we cannot say how long we will be dwelling here," Watazashi remarked, "The pendant seems to follow its own course and logic, and we might very well fade out from this world at any moment without more than a few seconds of warning."

"Plus the pendant will probably snatch two of your kids, once it makes its selection," Tachi added, "It's kind of random looking in the way it operates, but I'm pretty sure that there is a method to the seeming madness of our constant transitions."

"And who will be the ones taken when this happens?" Shampoo asked curiously, seeming to accept in stride that Silver and Rinse were her offspring, though she kept steeling puzzled glances in Akira's direction.

Eyes turned towards Ranko, who felt immediately as though she were in the spotlight once again and swallowed almost shyly before saying, "Well...it's up to the pendant, not me, but I think the ones it wants are your two oldest daughters, Kama Sutra and Tsuyori."

"Me and my sister?" Tsuyori asked, exchanging quiet looks with Kama Sutra before adding, "May I ask why we are being selected?"

"I don't know," Ranko shrugged, "Like Tachi says, it seems kinda random."

"But obviously there is a purpose involved here," Miko mused, using her fan to partly cover her face as she seemed to think it over.

"Maybe it's after a diversity of talents," Fubuki spoke up suggestively, nodding towards Ryeka and Atari, "After all, these two aren't directly related to any of us, as near as I can remember."

"May I be allowed to ask a question?" Atari politely inquired.

"You just did," Ryeka snickered.

"I wasn't talking to you, Peasant," Atari sniffed, "I was merely curious to know the way in which you formed such a large and impressive clan of Tendos, Midos, Hibikis and Saotomes. Such a large and impressive extended family you have here, and quite enormously fruitful."

"You think this is something?" Nabiki asked, "Wait until the rest of the girls get off duty."

"Oh my," a scantily clad Kasumi smiled as she added, "We do seem to fill up a room when we are all together."

"That many?" Akira's eyes got somewhat rounded.

"We're up to our eyeballs in Hentai," Silver murmured in a low whisper.

"Don't knock us until you've tried us, sister," Sakura winked in her direction.

Tinkerbell eyed the oddly dressed version of her mother with barely restrained amazement before turning to glance once again at the feral Thorn, who kept looking back at her and smiling, causing the honey-blonde Tink to color once more as though deeply flattered.

"In answer to your question," Miko began, "A generation ago, back when Dan's evil brother was clan lord, a war broke out between the Miroku and Suzuka that was caused, in no small part, by a pair of renegades from either clan that sought to destroy us. I won't bother you with the details, but in time Dan dealt with his brother and became the new Lord of the Suzuka, and peace was declared among the few surviving members of both clans. However, our ranks were so badly decimated that it was decided eventually that we would unite our Houses and bring an end to the bitter rivalry between us forever.

"About this time we, the surviving members of the Miroku, chose to settle down in the Nerima ward and set up a restaurant together under Ukyo's patronage, which back then was titled Ucchan's. Ukyo had a longstanding quarrel with one Saotome Ranma, but that was resolved when they decided to honor the marriage pact between their houses, and Ranma was formally adopted into the House Kuonji of Clan Miroku. Along with this agreement came the sisters of House Tendo, who were also adopted as Miroku, followed in turn by Shampoo and Kodachi. There's quite a bit more to the story than can be told in one sitting, of course, but suffice to say that we have been enormously happy over the years and have worked ceaselessly to rebuild the ranks of our once-depleted clan...a task in which we have succeeded beyond our wildest expectations."

"No fooling," Yuan-Yen said dryly, glancing around at the place before adding, "Looks to me like you made quite an investment and it paid off hugely. This place is amazing! And you combine the aspects of a dojo training center with a commercial business that's open to the general public?"

"Isn't it, like, kinda hard keeping what you guys do a secret with your own kids?" Rinse asked uneasily, "Not that there's anything wrong, of course, but..."

"You are familiar with the old Ninja trick of hiding something in plain sight?" a silver haired boy named Shiromitsu asked (son of Dan and Ukyo no less), "We combine live shows with actual combat training sessions, and so far no one has questioned us on any official level."

"That's because the locals tend to look away from anything involving martial arts in this province," replied his father, "And those few who do pay attention...well, we see to it that they understand that the traditions of the Miroku and Suzuka schools are vitally important to the health and well being of all who live within this Ward."

"Why is that?" Ryeka asked, intrigued.

"Because of the Shikima," Ryoga spoke up, "Without our truce with them no woman could sleep safe and sound in her bed."

"The Shikima?" Akira repeated.

"Oh yeah," Koi sniffed, "Nasty buggers if you run into one on a Friday, like I have. They're not bad as dates go, but they tend to forget the candy and flowers and jump right ahead to the bump and grind stuff..."

"What our sister means," Tsuyori gently intruded, "Is that we are trained to deal with the Shikima, and we maintain the peace between both Human and Demon worlds through the practice of our Sex craft..."

"Excuse me?" Ranko asked nervously, "Your what craft?"

"Sex Craft," Kama Sutra responded with a knowing smile, "If you wish to know more, we can give you and your friends a free demonstration, simply as a friendly family gesture."

"Indeed?" Watazashi mused, "What an intriguing offer."

Yuan-Yen and Tinkerbell looked at her, the former with annoyance, the latter with a much-surprised expression.

"You combine Martial arts with Sex?" Rinse sounded as incredulous as Ranko.

"Not to suggest that there is anything wrong with the concept," Tachi smoothly added, "But making Love while doing battle..."

"Sounds pretty self-contradictory to me," Silver stated in uneasiness.

"Why is that?" Kinko asked.

"Never mind," Akira told her, "Wait until you are older."

Kinko made a disgusted noise and rolled her eyes, "Why does everybody always say that to me? It's not fair!"

"I have no idea," Kimera replied, "You seem like a very attractive person."

"So do I," Kyura grinned, "And she's the same age as me...neat!"

Kinko stared at these two, taking in their good looks and friendly expressions, and without knowing quite why she found herself blushing.

"A shame if you're leaving," noted Thorn, "We wouldn't mind having you guys over for the night."

"She means stay the night," Rose eyed her half-sister with a slightly cross expression, "Didn't you, Sis?"

"Ha-ha," Silver growled in an even lower whisper than before, "Yeah...right."

"It's nice of you people to offer us a place to stay and all that," Ranko began, holding up the pendant in her hand before adding, "But any minute now this thing is gonna be taking us out of here and..."

She paused, glanced down at the pendant, then said, "You...what? You're kidding!"

"Who's kidding?" Ranma looked at his nominal "daughter."

"The pendant is imparting to you more of its secret, inner workings?" Watazashi hazarded.

Ranko did not immediately answer, but when she did her expression was almost comical as she looked at her companions and said, "We're staying."

"We're what?" it was Tachi's turn to blurt in a rare moment of surprise.

"It says we're staying the night," Ranko repeated, "We're not leaving to get to where we gotta go until tomorrow morning. It's giving us the night to rest, says we should just hang out a while and do whatever we feel like, and then when we wake up and get ready it's taking us to the place where we gotta be."

"You're joking!" Rinse sounded more than slightly appalled.

"I wish I was," Ranko said softly, then as one she and her party turned to face their counterparts among the Miroku, who were smiling back at them as if opportunity had just knocked in a big way.

"Oboy," Silver murmured faintly, "I gotta bad feeling about this..."

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Miroku Family Secrets: shadowmane

Yet more revelations, a Hentai section, plenty of sex and-of course-more stuff about what's going on that Dark world where the Time Agents "get acquainted" with their junior league helpers. Toltir speculates while another Ranma makes his move and the plot advances slightly further towards the eventual confrontation between Two Ranmas and the Shogun. Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	11. Chapter 11

RanSquares10

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the Works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others)

Chapter Ten.

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo -17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji -16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki -17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato -16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921

The Shogun of the Dark gnashed his teeth in silent fury as he studied the monitors and witnessed the inexplicable triumph of Saotome and his allies. The loss of so valuable a pawn as the Saiyajin and his party of Planet Ravagers was a setback to carefully laid out plans going back almost two decades, and now his enemies were gathered about the Core and were examining the equipment, no doubt trying to fathom a means by which to reverse the spell that the Shogun had cast so long ago on the day of his ascension, and from the looks of the matter the Shogun was powerless to prevent this!

Powerless, at least, until he could summon his most powerful of all minions, the Lord of Chaos, who had been busy venting the Shogun's wrath on those upstarts on the American continent.

How in the name of all the Demon Hells had Saotome become so powerful...and in such a very short timespan? The Shogun had been content to let Saotome play with his whore, humbled with the knowledge that he had not only survived the deaths of all his friends and loved ones but had been deemed too insignificant to be worth the bother of killing. Saotome had been a minor nuisance, nothing more, amusing to watch his futile attempts at heroics when all the truly heroic beings who had opposed the Shogun's rule were as dust.

But now it appeared as though the Shogun had misjudged Saotome's ability to gain in strength and ability, for he had single-handedly defeated one of the Shogun's most powerful minions as though it were a mere exercise and not a truly worthy challenge.

And how to explain the survival of the Tendo bitch, Nabiki? Saotome had killed her many years ago, the last that the Shogun had known about it, and with her death the Tendo line had ended. Only slightly less than the deaths of those annoying Amazons had been the celebration the Shogun experienced when the threat of that hated line had finally been ended. With the deaths of Saotome and his remaining allies the future of the Shogun would be reassured, much though that might mean having to suffer through an eternity of boring and predictable conquests.

Only that did not seem quite so entirely assured now that a new Saotome had arrived upon the scene, and these other strange allies who had appeared with him...something troubled the Shogun very greatly about them. He did not know why the women should concern him to the same degree as the men, but there was something about those girls, most particularly the light haired one who had cast that spell to disrupt the efforts of the vine creatures to "entertain" them...

All at once his mind filled with the voice of his true master, the Black Dragon, who said in a voice that threatened to overwhelm all other awareness, "SHOGUN, HEED ME NOW! THERE IS A DANGER TO THE PLAN, AND THESE STRANGERS ARE OF GREATER MENACE THAN EVEN YOU REALIZE!"

"A danger, Master?" the Shogun asked, "Surely not for you..."

"WEAK AND PATHETIC MORTAL," his Master thundered in his mind, "THEY ARE NOT OF THIS EARTH AND ARE NOT SUBJECT TO MY MIND-CONTROL! THIS MAKES THEM A DANGER, BOTH UNACCEPTABLE IN ITSELF AND OF THE TIMING OF THEIR ARRIVAL, WHEN I AM SO CLOSE TO ACHIEVING MY MOMENT OF ULTIMATE GLORY!"

This stunned the Shogun even more than the defeat of his Saiyajin lieutenant. It had been fortuitous that the day of the Ascension had been during the time when Vegita had been on Earth and thus was ensnared by the selfsame spell that had given the Black Dragon, his Master, total dominion over all living things of the Earth and the Heavens. The Dragon was the unquestioned Lord of all that he surveyed, and his Master toyed with the mortals of the Earth while he renewed his sleep and regathered his expended powers. For twenty years the Dragon had slept and dreamed while allowing the Shogun to rule the planet as his Suzerain. This had been the unquestioned order of things as the Shogun played games with puny mortals, permitting them the illusion of free will while manipulating in subtle (and often not so subtle) ways their actions to while away the time and amuse himself, like a puppet master pulling the strings of those who once had lorded it over his own existence.

Though the Shogun had regarded himself as far removed from the mortal shell that was his present body, he still had the memories of a pathetic wretch named Hiraku Gosunkugi who had been spat upon by gods and mortals alike. A pale and strange lad of a solitary nature, given to a one-sided and hopeless obsession for the violent Tomboy, Tendo Akane, he had been humbled by bullies and ignored by his parents, sneered at by his peers and frequently humiliated because of his frail constitution and puny physique. He was the type of boy who-in a culture given to the plentiful availability of firearms-would have most climbed atop a water tower and played sniper with his fellow students. Japan having strict laws about such things, he had instead been forced to delve into the one thing that promised to give him power beyond that known by other mortals.

The Black Arts.

At first he had merely dabbled to compensate for a sense of inferiority, and being a fairly intelligent lad for his age, he quickly dismissed most of the pop culture nonsense that deceived and confused the eyes of the uninitiated, learning to spot the difference between the true Occult and the junk that was marketed to appeal to people like him as an easy fix for all life's problems. Gosunkugi had discovered (or was discovered by) a forgotten book inside a novelty book shop that had appeared one day in what he had thought was an empty lot, and it had changed his life for the better, teaching him the true secrets of Magic and how to unlock the hidden powers contained within his frail form. He had committed that book to memory and one day cast the spell by which he sought to contact the spirit of his ancestors in hopes that they would reveal unto him the knowledge he craved to make himself a power among mortals.

And that was how he had been discovered by the spirit of a long-dead mage named Munnihausen, the son of a deranged Nazi scientist who once had sought to unleash the power of a being known as The Lord of Chaos. Munnihausen had been the first to tell Gosunkugi how he might go about acquiring the power that he needed, and from there had shown Gosunkugi other secrets to finally obtain his dream of winning the hand of the youngest of the Tendo sisters. Gosunkugi had been content to relish having Akane under his dominion and had achieved his long-  
sought satisfaction, even though her annoying cousin, Natsume the Vampire Slayer, had sought to interfere, disapproving of Gosunkugi's relationship with her sister and doing much to try and win Akane away from his dominion.

That was when Gosunkugi had taken the final step of his existence and cast the spell that Munnihausen had revealed to him, the one to resurrect the Shogun of the Dark from his ages long slumber. The Shogun, once awakened, had needed a mortal host to replace his depleted body, and naturally had taken Gosunkugi's for his own, annihilating the apprenticed mage as his frail body had been unable to withstand the strain of transition, which in turn compelled the Shogun to resurrect his body and remake it in his image.

And, of course, for Gosunkugi, the evolution from human to Zombie had actually been a relative improvement. When he fully merged with the Shogun, however, Hiraku Gosunkugi was no more than a dim memory. Instead he was the Shogun, possessed of a mission to open the doorway unto Hell itself through which his own foul master, the Black Dragon, would emerge triumphant.

It had been ridiculously easy to lure Natsume and her band of loyal followers into an ambush, and from there combined them with the rest of the Shogun's chosen victims, using Munnihausen's Murder Wheel to power the spell that brought about the Ascension. From there the Black Dragon had emerged to claim the Earth for his dominion, for all living things had been ensnared by the spell that had been cast, making the Dragon the supreme authority of the world with the Shogun serving as both High Priest and subject Emperor of the planet.

Only this was all coming apart because Saotome had somehow contrived to free himself from the Dragon and was now perched atop the very Core of the Shogun's power. Discovering the dormant Murder Wheel placed him and these other strangers within reach of undoing over five thousand years of planning and sacrifice, and this could not be tolerated! The Shogun's dark hate flared to life and he studied the monitors, vowing to himself that he would destroy these impudent worms before they could further interfere with the Dragon's schemes of power.

The Lord of Chaos would do the deed, provided he could be recalled in time. Even at top speed it would take the better part of fifteen minutes for him to cross the Pacific ocean. That was far too much time for the Shogun's liking, so something would need to be done to clear a path between the Lord of Chaos and his newly designated objective.

It would be a strain even for his power, but the alternative was to risk the displeasure of his Master, so the Shogun cast the spell of summoning to open a corridor that would bring the Lord near instantaneously to the shores of Japan, from which he would strike at his enemies and bring the threat they posed to an end, as befit the will of the Black Dragon...

"Excuse me?" Ranma said, "Would you run that by me again?"

"It's quite obvious, Uncle Saotome," Ekko remarked, "The device you see now before you was crafted to use the energies of twelve women in order to power a spell the likes of which I fear were of devastating potential."

"Can't you feel it?" Tenko asked as she stared at the device with obvious loathing, "It radiates the terror and ecstasy that marked the moment of their deaths. These women were stimulated to the point of ultimate excitement, and at the height of their ecstasy their life energies were sucked from their bodies, channeled through this device and used to create a massive Psychic opening in the walls of time and space."

"Everything that we have seen of this world is the result of this hideous invention," Veil added in the same hushed tones that she had used since entering the chamber, "This is the source of a great evil used to empower an even greater force of evil that took control over the Heavens and the Earth and usurped the authority of the Gods unto itself. The thing that came through that gap styles itself as a God, but it is an obscenity that warps the very nature of reality as we know it and bends the laws of time and space to serve its will, thus destabilizing this arm of the cosmos."

"But how can a thing like that happen?" Ryoga asked, "Time doesn't just unravel itself...the future and past exchange probability energies to achieve relative stability no matter what changes you make to a single timeline. Even I know that much!"

"This goes beyond an ordinary event-level catastrophe, Ryo-chan," Nabiki replied, eyes focused upon her handheld scanner, on which she was continuing to type at a furious rate, "The means by which time often corrects itself is to arrange it so that events work towards achieving stability...but something created a massive instability here, and the process is getting worse as time progresses."

"In other words this is the thing we came to destroy," Lylac said, "So, what are we waiting for? Let's junk the sucker."

"Makes sense to me," Ryoga said grimly, "I've wanted to smash this piece of junk since the moment I laid eyes on it."

"Makes two of us, Porky," Ranma extended a fist, "So let's get cracking."

"Hold it, Muscles," Nabiki urged with a wave of a hand, making rapid calculations on her handheld scanner, "That won't accomplish anything constructive."

"Maybe not," Ranma said as his fist began to glow, "But it'll sure make me feel better..."

A restraining hand gently gripped his arm and Ranma turned to see the redheaded Ekko shaking her head in a negatory manner.

"You got a death wish, kid?" he asked rather more gruffly than he intended.

"Aunt Nabiki is correct, Uncle," Ekko explained, "Destroying the device will not help matters, rather it will prevent any chance that we might have of reversing what was accomplished here. Rather we must use this hideous thing to bring about an end to the darkness and a remaking of this world in a better image."

"Reverse it?" Lylac looked at her best friend in disbelief, "You've got to be kidding!"

"I wish that I was," Ekko said reluctantly, "But my calculations have demonstrated conclusively-backed by Aunt Washu's own research..."

"Washu?" Nabiki paled, "That lunatic mad scientist sent you girls? Why am I not surprised?"

"Grandmother was quite emphatic that we had to come to this place and time to make this device work in reverse polarity to its original setting," Tenko explained, "If this is not achieved, then time will be unwound on not only this timeline but all the adjoining temporal lines linking to it and paralleling alongside it, causing a massive catastrophic cascade effect that could infect the entire system."

"Causing Yggdrasil itself to suffer a massive systems crash and the unrecoverable loss of great amounts of cosmic data," Veil further added, "So it is fair to say that the continued existence of the Cosmos itself now hangs in the balance, which is why the Anomaly is gathering its forces to achieve repairs, but for the counter-spell to work will require our full participation."

"Participation?" Ranma asked uneasily, "Why do I get the feeling that I am NOT gonna like this?"

"You're not the only one, Ranma-kun," Nabiki murmured in tones of evident displeasure, "Unfortunately, the calculations I've just made, using the computers at Central, back up their claims that this could become a massive Extinction Level Event of the first magnitude. Under the circumstances I believe it would be safe to say that extraordinary measures will need to be undertaken to repair the level of damage that I'm detecting here."

"Correct," Ekko replied, "Extraordinary measures...and distasteful ones at that, but the alternatives may not even exist for this world as it would appear that this timeline lacks the proper components."

"The components being Heroes," Tenko concluded rather grimly.

"I think I follow your reasoning on this," Nabiki said, "Heroes are like the Anti-bodies that the Universe summons to combat the virus of Chaos and instability that is inherent in physical nature. The sagas, myths and legends we know of in our history are simply accounts of extraordinary individuals who rose up in their place and time to answer the challenge that they were given. Without heroes this world cannot repel the disease that infects the entire system, so the virus is spreading rapidly. The darkness that we encountered on our arrival are merely the symptoms to a much larger problem caused by the absence of heroes. A world itself can perish without champions to defend it, and reality as we know it depends on heroes correcting the imbalance and discord that chaos can have when allowed to run uncheck throughout an entire cosmos."

"Like any virus that replicates itself to an infinite degree," Veil nodded, "It eventually will kill the host and convert even healthy systems adjoining this timeline to retrograde virus infestations."

"You're saying this thing will cause a Retrovirus to infect Yggdrasil?" Lylac winced, "That's gross!"

"So is what we may have to do in order to remedy the cure for the system," Ekko replied, "I only hope that when the rest of the Children of Time are gathered to this place that they will be as prepared as we are to lend our might to saving the Cosmos."

"We?" Lylac said nervously, "Hold on, time out here! Don't you think we should have discussed this on the way here?"

"If you had known in advance, would you have volunteered?" Tenko asked her.

"No...well...maybe..." Lylac glared at Ekko and growled, "Some best friend you are, roping me in for a thing like this..."

"Never fear," Veil assured her, "If everything works as planned, then we may yet survive this."

"May survive this?" Ranma growled, "Now I definitely know I don't like the sound of this! Do your parents have any idea what you girls are planning to do? Sure as hell know what I'd say if I were in their place..."

"Fortunately...or unfortunately," Nabiki said, "Depending on how you look at it, this device is in no condition to be used for anything. It was fried the last time it was used and some of the most important components have been melted into useless slag, not to mention the damage we did to this facility with our little rumble with its defenders."

"Leave that to me," Veil replied, "Tenko-chan has explained what corrections need to be made to the original construction of the device, and with Ekko's calculations confirming the data, I should be able to reconstitute the system as good as new...at least long enough to use this instrument of pain and evil to remake this world and restore the balance."

"Good idea, beautiful," a voice very much like Ranma's noted, "But are you really sure you sprouts want to go through with this shindig?"

The party turned to see the man standing off to one side with a green-haired girl leaning against his shoulder, the two of them composed as if they had just wandered onto the scene like a couple of tourists.

Ranma looked at the face of the man, who looked back at him with an almost identical expression, then in a tone of low wonder he said, "I don't believe this..."

Continuum #57821964

Roll Call:

Ranko Saotome -16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo -16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome -17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki -16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Morobishi -16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome -17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji -14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.

Miroku House

Kama Sutra Saotome -18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Tsuyori Saotome -18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Wulf Midori -17, green haired son of Yaku Midori and Ranma Shikari Mido -17, purple haired daughter of Akane and Miko Kitten Saotome -17, cherry pink haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma Tsuyosa Hibiki -17, black haired son of Akane and Ryoga Omake Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Ranmaru Shikari Tendo -16, purple haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Miko Koi Mido -16, indigo haired daughter of Miko Mido and Dan Shiromitsu Suzuka -16, silver haired son of Ukyo and Dan Tenshin Saotome -16, brown haired son of Fubuki and Ranma Bukotei Mido -16, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Ranma Thorn Saotome -16, green haired daughter of Kodachi and Yaku Midori Rose Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Kodachi and Ranma Achika Hibiki -16, black haired daughter of Botsasu and Ryoga Bonbori Tendo -15, purple haired daughter of Shampoo and Akane Sakura Kuonji -15, silver haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Price Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Tendo and Fubuki Kashiko Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Fubuki Kurenai Mido -15, blue haired daughter of Yaku and Miko Kimera Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Dan Kyura Saotome -14, black haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Ranma Tekase Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Botsasu and Ranmaru Bracelet Saotome -14, indigo haired daughter of Shampoo and Ukyo

"I don't get it," Ranko said to the pendant around her neck, "Why do you want us to spend the night in this place? I thought you were in a hurry to get us wherever the heck we're going?"

"[Statement is correct]," the pendant spoke into her mind, "[But subjects need preparation in order to complete mission objectives.]"

"Preparation?" Ranko frowned, "What kind of preparation are we talking about? You know what this place is and what they do here?"

"[Affirmative.]"

Ranko blinked. She had not been expecting that direct a reply to her question. It seemed that the pendant could be stingy and evasive at points, but if questioned directly it would give positive or negative responses, which meant it actually wasn't trying to deliberately frustrate her, just not give her a useable answer until it had determined that it was information that she really and truly needed.

"So...you're saying we're here to get training?" Ranko paused before asking the question she most dreaded, "In what?"

"[Subject House is place of special training,]" the pendant replied, still being evasive, "[Only place where subjects can obtain special skills and knowledge in order to fulfill mission assignment.]"

There was a very long pause before Ranko asked again, "You know what they train people in here is something they call Sex Craft, right?"

"[Affirmative.]"

"So that's the deal?" Silver asked, startling Ranko, who had forgotten that at least some of her companions were still beside her, sitting down in the middle of the indoor garden area of the house, "That thing wants us to take lessons in how to screw?"

"Ah...kind of," Ranko glared resentfully at the pendant before allowing it to fall back onto her breast, "Don't look at me...I didn't get any weird ideas about bringing you guys here or nothing. Heck, I didn't even think a place like this existed until we got here!"

"Interesting," Tachi mused, her arms folded over her chest as she stared off towards nothing of importance.

"You are thinking what I am thinking?" Watazashi asked, "That this...mission the pendant has selected us for requires more than merely our combat skill in order to be completed?"

"That sort-of is what I'm figuring," Yuan-Yen also noted, "Which kind of suggests that whatever this thing is that we're being grabbed up to accomplish, it has to be Sex related, at least on some level."

"Is that why most of the guys in our group are female?" Tinkerbell asked, murmuring under her breath, "I'm not sure I like where this is going. No, scratch that! I'm SURE I don't like it at all! This definitely sounds like one of those Ecchi vids that my 'Zashi has in her collection."

"Really?" Yuan-Yen eyed HER Watazashi coyly, "I guess some things are a universal constant."

"Sex-related?" Akira said in thoughtful tones, "That does sound nasty. I hope whatever that pendant is intending isn't going to be actually harmful to anyone present?"

"That all depends on your definition of 'Harmful,'" a voice brought them around to find the two Miroku girls, Tsuyori and Kama-Sutra, standing side-by-side in the individually color-coded cheongsam outfits that seemed to be a universal House constant.

"Don't be alarmed," Kama replied, "My sister and I would like the opportunity to speak with you alone, seeing as we both have been selected to help you achieve this mission that you are after."

"It only makes sense that we should get properly acquainted," Tsuyori added, "Since we may be going into danger at any time and will no doubt be called upon to guard one another's backsides."

"Or whatever position is of your preference," Kama noted with a smile that was both open and sexy.

"Ah...well..." Ranko glanced at her companions before saying, "I've got no problems with that. How about you guys?"

"It makes eminent sense that we should become more...familiar with one another's natures," Watazashi purred easily.

"Just not too familiar, got it?" Yuan-Yen murmured to her at the level of a stage whisper.

"Perhaps it might help if you tell us a little something about yourself," Tachi suggested, "For example...the both of you are daughters of Saotome Ranma?"

"Yes," Tsuyori smiled graciously, "We are also the oldest and most well trained of our generation of the Miroku, both as fighters and in the Sex Craft that is our main calling."

"Which only makes sense if you came to recruit the best of the younger Miroku," Kama noted, "Not to slight our younger siblings, who all have fine and upstanding qualities of their own and will doubtless go on to be superb warriors of our clan. Mother is concerned, though, about Tsu and I being chosen since we are the designated heirs of our respective branches of the Miroku, Mido and Saotome."

"Sooo..." Silver asked hesitantly, "What can the two of your do, and what makes you so special?"

"Beyond our abilities and skills as Miroku?" Tsuyori smiled a quiet little smile, "Kama and I are...somewhat more than we appear. The circumstances of our births were most unusual, and it may be that those qualities will be to our mutual advantage."

"Ah...say," Ranko glanced around, "We seem to be a few members short on our party..."

"You mean Rinse and her would-be paramours?" Tachi smiled in sly amusement, "My cousin is of a restless temperament and prefers action to sitting around waiting for something to happen. As for Ryeka and Atari...well...where she goes, they tend to follow like lost puppies."

"Your friends are being well cared for," Tsuyori assured them.

"Miroku hospitality is legendary" Kama noted with her own sly expression.

"I think you guys had better be careful with those three," Tinkerbell noted, "The Blue and Green haired chicks are a couple of real hotheads."

"That's not so unusual around here as you might imagine," Tsuyori assured them, "Some of our siblings can get into real cat-fights for the silliest of reasons."

"Not like these two," Tachi cautioned, "If Ryeka and Atari get into it, a good sized portion of your house could wind up missing."

"Not to worry," Kama said with an enigmatic expression, "We are well versed in dealing with problem cases...and I dare say that wherever your friends are, matters are well in hand."

There was something about the way the indigo-haired older girl had worded this that left the remaining members of Ranko's party feeling more than slightly nervous...

"Wow, can you believe this place?" Ryeka remarked with all the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy shop, "These guys must really know how to party!"

"Modest but sumptuous," Atari reluctantly agreed, "I suppose these facilities will be suitably adequate for travel accommodations, provided our visit here is merely temporary."

"We don't exactly have a lot of control over that," Rinse reminded, "So guys...kinda tone it down a little? We don't want to go pissing off our hosts this time, okay?"

"Eh?" Ryeka withdrew her head from the portion of the wall that she had been partially phasing through and had a most uncomprehending expression, "What do you mean, Rin-chan?"

"Darling is referring to your lamentable habit of picking quarrels in the most unwelcome of places," Atari said with a condescending lilt in her voice, her nose in the air in a most snooty manner.

Rinse sighed and covered her eyes with one hand, being the only one of their trio to remain at ground level while they explored the spacious resort-like facilities of the Miroku, "I can't take you guys anyplace..." Rinse started as a pair of gentle hands began to massage her temples, spreading a soothing quality through out her nerves, to which she reflexively said, "Oh yeah...that feels so nice! That you, Tachi?"

"Tachi?" a kawaii voice inquired from directly behind her, "That short haired girl you were with?"

Rinse started, almost turning around, only to see the suddenly quite hostile looks being turned towards her by her two nominal girlfriends. No wait-the angle of their murderous glares weren't being directed her way, they were aimed slightly to the left past her right shoulder and...

This time Rinse completed the gesture of turning fully around, only to find the smiling face of the pink-haired girl named Kitten standing there beaming brightly.

"Nihao," she said, giving Atari and Ryeka quizzical looks that seemed to miss entirely the hostility they were visibly radiating, "Are you guys looking for a tour guide? I'd be happy to volunteer if you want someone to show you the angles."

The utter innocuousness of that statement caused Rinse's two alien suitors to pause in their hostility and exchange brief puzzled expressions.

"Ah...angles?" Rinse asked nervously.

"Sure," the cherry red haired girl said brightly, "You guys look like you could use some help with your relationship problems. My sisters and me have been trained to help out on that score, so if you let us show you the way..."

"Relationship problems?" Atari sniffed, "To whatever could you be referring?"

"She means you," Ryeka snorted, "Always pushing yourself on my friend, never taking a hint that Rin-chan doesn't want you."

"That's not true at all!" Atari retorted, "Darling knows that I am devoted to her, as she is committed to me, isn't that right, Darling?"

"Ah..." Rinse noticed the way both girls were looking at her for confirmation of their respective positions, and suddenly she felt on the spot once again, wondering how her two closest friends (not including Tachi) had turned into such bitter rivals vying for her hand in marriage with mutual antagonism grown far out of proportion to any real conflicts that might exist between them.

"Sounds like a problem to me," Kitten smiled, "How about you guys?"

"I couldn't agree with you more," replied another girl, who was clinging from the overhang of the floor above them, and with nimble ease flipped herself over, turning to reveal a lush head of purple hair done up in twin pony tails extending from a matching set of odangos.

"Who are you?" asked an intrigued sounding Ryeka.

"Tendo Bonbori, at your service," she bowed, lean and slender with a highly muscular and scantily clad frame that was lush in all the right places, "Champion problem-solver, at your service."

"Excuse her," a third voice said as a third girl-also with purple hair-slide sideways out of the shadow with a slinky, sultry air about her that suggested someone who was highly predatory in nature, "Our sister isn't known for her modesty, though she does have her good points."

"And you are?" Atari asked.

"Tendo Shikari," the newcomer replied, "A Leisure consultant and relationship expert, also at your service."

"Er..." Rinse began, "It's nice to meet you, but I don't see what...?"

"Forgive my forwardness," Shikari said, indicating Ryeka and Atari, "But it seems that these two lovely young ladies each appear to have a claim on you, but they feel competitive in regards to each other. I take it that they would like a resolution on which of them would make the better mate for you, but have as yet not found a proper framework with which to make this determination?"

"You could say that," Ryeka glared at Atari.

"It should be obvious which of us is the better woman for Darling," Atari glared back at Ryeka.

"So what's the problem?" Kitten asked, "Make a challenge of it, pick a forum to demonstrate which of you would make the better lover for your friend here."

Both alien girls glanced at surprise at the cherry-haired Saotome.

"The better..."

"...Lover?"

"Of course," Bonbori grinned, "Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'Make love, not war?'"

"The rules of the game are simple," Shikari explained, "You each take turns making love to your Honey and the one who demonstrates the most skill and technique in bringing her off proves themselves the more able lover."

Ryeka and Atari exchanged another glance, this time more coolly calculating.

"Oh really?" Ryeka purred like a cat regarding a canary.

"Tell us more about this...game," Atari replied, regarding her rival with an identical expression.

"Uh oh," Rinse murmured to herself, wondering if it might be a good idea to start running...

"By the way," Tachi glanced around, "We're missing our youngest member of the team. Where is Kinko?"

"I dunno," Silver shrugged, "She just wandered off somewhere by herself. It's a big place, and there's lots of places you could get lost in."

"Oh, I'm sure she's not lost," Tsuyori smiled, "Koi is with her, and she knows exactly where to take her."

"Now if it was Achika or Tsuyosa, there might be a problem," Kama Sutra smiled, "They're Hibikis, and I don't suppose I have to explain to any of you what that means."

There were many nods and groans of assent from all around, all except for Ranko, who had only heard the legends regarding the Curse of the Hibikis, though she wondered if the truth about their sense of direction was really as bad as was claimed, for surely no one could get lost in their own house, could they...?

"Wow," Kinko remarked as she studied the room that she had been shown to, "What is this place?"

"We call it the Salad Bowl," Koi grinned in reply, indicating the arena-like ring surrounded by ropes, only curved inward with a slight depression around the edges, "So named because we fill it with a gel like mixture, similar to shortening or salad dressing, and two or more of us go at it in the ring like any conventional wrestling match until one of us yields up to the other."

"You wrestle in oil?" Kinko frowned, "Isn't that kind of pointless?"

"Not at all," Koi replied, touching her companion on the arm and pointing, "See there? Two of my sisters are warming up and about to go at it. Hey guys! Mind if we watch?"

The two women appeared to be oiling their naked bodies down and paused to glance back their way before smiling as one of the pair (the one with dark blue hair) called back, "Sure, no problem, Koi-chan!"

"I see you brought one of the Newbies along for a date," the other brown-haired girl grinned, "We'll try and put on a good show for you. Achika-chan owes me a tumble for getting us both lost at the shopping mall..."

"I did not, Kashiko," the one identified as Achika retorted, "It's not my fault if you wanted to check out the Manga section, and don't ask me how we wound up in the middle of the Lost World ride at Disney World Florida! We wouldn't have taken that wrong turn if you hadn't decided to chase after that boy you saw. We were supposed to stick together."

"We did," Kashiko replied, "That's how we wound up on the water slide at the Madam Lao exhibit."

"Anyway," Achika rubbed her hands together, "It's time to settle up, so get ready to kiss my ass because I'm gonna be sitting on your face before you know it."

"Hah," Kashiko scoffed, "You'll never get the better of me, even if you are a year older and have the strength of an ox. I'm still faster and better looking."

"We'll see about that," the dark blue haired girl said as she and her companion climbed into the arena together and began to carefully balance themselves on the slippery smooth surface.

"Hope you like the taste of my muff in your face," the other girl replied as the two of them squared off and assumed identical crouches.

"Let's have a seat and watch this," Koi said as the two girls inside the slippery arena began to slide around, seeking traction, "This is actually pretty good training for Shikima fighting. You get used to having almost no friction to work with, and it does wonder for your posture and balance."

"Is that what it's all about?" Kinko asked as they sat down together, "Learning how to fight with your body as slippery as an eel's hide?"

"No," Koi grinned, "There's a lot more to it than just that. Watch, they're about to get really into it. You'll catch on soon enough."

Kinko stared at the two in the arena, whose bodies gleamed like a pair of bronzed statues, slowly circling about, each looking for the first to either attack or leave an opening. It was amazing enough their ability to stand in that "Salad Bowl," more amazing still that they could move with such ease and coordination, as if they had done this sort of thing many times in the past.

The impasse between them lasted only several moments before they finally moved in to close the distance, and then the two of them were grappling together, applying leverage and relative talent to augment the advantage each seemed to have as a fighter. It was plain at once that Achika was the stronger of the two of them, but Kashiko was quick and slippery as a wet seal, so for a few moments more the two of them struggled together, trying to pin the other girl to the mattress.

Finally Achika got the upper hand and forced Kashiko down, then attempted to finish the move, only to have the brown haired girl slide out from underneath her and attempt to take advantage of Achika's being slightly off balance. She got a firm grip on Achika's arm and used a leg to flip her over, and then she straddled her older sister, bringing her mouth into play as her face covered Achika's dark blue loins and...

Kinko's eyes got very round and in a dull tone of wonder she asked, "What the heck is she doing to her?"

"If you don't know, then maybe I shouldn't enlighten you," Koi chuckled, "They might accuse me of corrupting your morals or something."

Kinko started turning to her companion to ask what was meant by that when two more figures entered the room, diverting her attention to the sight of the two naked girls going at it. She reflexively placed them as the two girls named Bracelet and Tekase, the former being the Indigo-haired Amazon daughter of Shampoo (and the equivalent of Kinko's "father,' Ukyo), the latter being the dark haired daughter of Ranma and some girl named Botsasu. Both were carrying trays full of confections and refreshments, and when they saw their sister and Kinko sitting off to one side they hurried to join them, exchanging pleasant greetings before sitting down on the side matting.

"They just get started?" Bracelet asked.

"Only a couple minutes going," Koi explained to her sisters.

"Good," Tekase grinned, "Then we haven't really missed anything yet. I see Achika's going in for an early pin...using her Tongue Hammer technique to try and bring Kashiko-chan off to an early start, eh?"

"Well, don't look now," Bracelet smiled, "But I think Kashi-chan's about to turn the tables on her. She's using her three-fingered attack to break Achi-chan's concentration."

"It's working," Koi said in breathless tones as the girl on the bottom managed to finally flip the girl on top over, then reversed the pin and starting attacking her in a furious sixty-nine position, "Man, Kashiko must really be worked up this time! Achika must have pulled her chord with that last maneuver because Kashi's using her quivering tongue technique! That always sends Achika screaming for the rafters!"

"How can you tell?" Kinko asked in a quavering voice, wondering if it was just her or had the room had gotten hotter for some reason?

"By the sounds Achika's making," Bracelet replied, "She only groans like that when she's got a hot tongue shoved deep in her slot swirling around with little vibrations that set her nerves on fire..."

"On fire," Tekase sniffed, "Sounds more like Mount Fuji's about to erupt. Kashiko must really want this victory something awful."

"More like she just wants to suck down on Achi's juices," Koi remarked, then took notice of Kinko's stunned expression and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, are we shocking you, Kinko-chan? We get pretty graphic when we're analyzing this stuff. Our Elders drill us on it all the time, and you don't want to pay the penalty for not knowing your shit when it comes to quiz time."

"Don't I know it," Tekase winced, "Being bent over a pillory while your sisters take turns whacking you on the bottom with a sharkskin paddle is no fun."

"Speak for yourself," Bracelet smiled, "I may not have been able to sit down for a week, but it was sure a great way to spend my last birthday! Especially when they let Wulf ride me for the first time ever."

"Excuse me?" Kinko glanced from one companion to the other, then back at what the two nude girls were doing, and said, "Your parents APPROVE of you doing this?"

"Of course," Koi sounded surprised by the question, "After all, they love us."

"Not in the physical sense," Tekase hastily pointed out, "We're not allowed to do it with grown ups just yet, only our fellow sisters, and sometimes with out brothers. Not me, of course, you have to be fifteen before they'll let a guy ride you..."

"Too many complications," Bracelet agreed, "And boys our age don't yet know how to control their semen. Our folks may be tolerant and understanding, but they don't encourage us to have babies just yet, at least not until after High School."

"And of course they'd much rather we not make babies with our own close kin," Koi said matter-of-factly, "Too much of a danger of recessives. Of course if we don't share at least one parent in common, then it's all right, like Bracelet here wants to make babies with Wulf-chan."

"I do not," Bracelet flushed a deep crimson, belying her protests.

"Sure you do," Tekase teased, "He's seventeen, you're fifteen, and in a few more years, unless you both decide to look elsewhere, you're bound to be having his cubs."

"Quit it," Bracelet squirmed, her embarrassment redoubled.

"Poor little Bracelet," Koi cooed, "Growing up already and trying to hog one of our handsomest brothers."

"I said stop it!" Bracelet nudged Tekase with her elbow, unwittingly causing her sister to spill her drink all over Kinko's lap, which just happened to be iced tea with lemon juice added.

Kinko gave a slight start, then a gasp, and then the slots left bare by her tank top bulged somewhat as a pair of white wings billowed out and unfolded. The move was so sudden that it caught her companions by surprise as Kinko's features altered slightly and her youthful body became more streamlined, her hair shifting color from dark brown to bright amber.

The sudden appearance of a winged Angel even attracted the notice of the two girls in the arena, one of whom was attempting to scissors her groin as though attempting to cut her down the middle. Both girls turned with mutually astonished looks at the transformed Kinko, who had been Kawaii cute before but was now a breathtaking beauty.

"Ah..." Kinko stood up on her bare feet, folding her wings so that they didn't come as close to brushing the walls and the ceiling, her voice itself becoming more melodious as she said, "You're...probably wondering what just happened...ah, sorry about this."

Tekase looked at her now-emptied glass, then at the winged Kinko and hesitantly said, "Jusenkyo?"

"That's it, yes," Kinko folded her hands and held them down at crotch level, her wings just hovering above her shoulders as she looked down rather contritely, thinking to herself, "Here it comes..."

To her astonishment, rather than the rude comments that she had often had to suffer from her peers, the Miroku girls also stood up and started to feel her feathers while Koi examined her face, and after a moment she grinned broadly and said, "NEATO! Can you fly with those?"

Kinko blinked, "Uh...sure...they're fully functional..."

"Interesting," Bracelet knelt down to the floor and studied Kinko's legs, then took notice of her tail feathers projecting along her sides and said, "You stabilize air currents by turning what would be landing gear on a true fowl into ailerons that no doubt help you with gaining altitude, to say nothing of maneuvering against headwinds."

"Your chest development is highly advanced," Bracelet commented as she ran hands over the thin material of Kinko's tank top, gently squeezing her breasts as Kinko stood still, too stunned to make protest, "This no doubt aids you in getting the strength that you must need to effectively use those wings. How high up can you glide with these?"

"Uh...about a mile," Kinko replied, "Gets harder to breathe beyond that..."

"Of course," Koi came to stand behind Kinko, and the latter felt her hands probing the muscles of her back and wings, "You've got a lot of power back here, I'll bet you've got some dandy pelvic muscles to go with this. Hmmm...and you smell nice too! And I just love your tail-feathers...!"

"Ah...huh?" Kinko shivered slightly as Tekase started to play with her pelvis, sliding a finger under Kinko's shorts to slide along the inner lining of her unfolding labia.

"You're right, Koi-chan," Tekase mused, "She has good pelvic tension down here, and she does smell nice! Almost a cross between tuna and chicken."

"Can we see?" Achika asked as she and the other slicked down girl came to join them.

"Oooh, nice!" agreed Kashiko, whose oil-slicked body drew a curious fascination from Kinko, who was feeling more aroused than offended by all this attention, "Can I have a taste of her? She looks delicious!"

"Be my guest," Tekase smiled as she yanked down on Kinko's trousers and panties, exposing her velvety loins to full view of these others.

"Just relax and let us handle everything," Bracelet said in soothing tones as she lifted Kinko's top and began to play with breasts and nipples, "You're in good hands with the Miroku."

"That's putting it mildly," Koi chuckled as she continued to do something with the nerves along Kinko's backside that ended any further thought of voicing a protest.

"Gah!" Kinko gasped as she felt Tekase and Kashiko's faces nestle in between her thighs to begin competing for her pussy, while Achika's slick hands replaced Bracelet's hold on her breast, while Bracelet moved in and began applying her mouth to the other. Far from being offended by these bold attempts to molest her, Kinko found herself giving in quite easily, thinking t herself that she never had this kind of hospitality at her own parents' restaurant...

"...So, in summary," Tachi remarked, "The fact that we are all martial artists in the prime of our youth and health leads me to suspect that the sexual component is geared to the fact that we have strong bodies and are well trained in their usage."

"I follow that," Watazashi nodded, "You are saying that we are imminently trainable in these Miroku arts, having already established the groundwork that is the firm foundation upon which can be built a more complex structure."

"Meaning discipline and refinement of things we already know how to do," Yuan-  
Yen concluded sagely, "But...pardon me for pointing this out...but as far as can be determined, 'Zashi and I are the only ones in our group who have any real experience with love making. Are any of you guys experienced that way?"

"Who, me?" Ranko shrugged, "You guys are about it when it comes to my knowledge of the subject."

"Ah..." Silver glanced at Akira and said, "No comment."

"I've...had some experience in the past," Tachi said reluctantly, "Nothing much spectacular..."

"Oho?" Tsuyori smiled knowingly, "What about you and your cousin?"

"Who...Brand?" Tachi blinked, then saw the way everyone was looking at her and said, "Oh...you mean Rinse-chan? Uh...well..."

"We can tell that you are very fond of your cousin," Kama Sutra replied with a sultry expression, "Not that I could fault you there...she is very much like some of our sisters..."

"Especially Bonbori and Bracelet," Tsuyori agreed, "I can see why those two girls are always fighting over her so much...she looks like she could make for quite a tumble!"

"Well, uh..." Tachi's finely honed gift for gab momentarily deserted her as she glanced off to another part of the garden, "I do...sort of like Rinse-chan...a lot...but the field around her is already rather crowded, and since I'd rather not get in between the field of fire with Ryeka and Atari, I'm content to keep my sights focused...elsewhere..."

"But have you ever actually done it with her?" Yuan-Yen asked.

Tachi's expression became wistful, and then she sighed, "Once...but I'd rather not talk about it, if it's all the same to you, sisters."

Watazashi cocked her expression and gave an amused look at the hovering Tinkerbell, "And what of you, friend Tink? Have you ever done it with my counterpart...or anyone else who has ever tickled your fancy?"

"Huh?" Tinkerbell was surprised at being included in the conversation and blinked her eyes before saying, "Er...ah...what makes you ask?"

"Just a hunch I have," Watazashi leaned back on the volcanic rock formation upon which she had been perching her own lean body and smiled as she posed herself in a fetching manner, "The way you keep looking at me and Yuan-chan, those haunted looks of wistful longing, as though we remind you of someone else whom you very much would prefer to be with. The obvious history that you share, the fact that you became so jealously aroused when you received false reports that she had been unfaithful...""

"Ah..." Tinkerbell felt herself flushing a bright read from head to the tips of her toes and levitated a bit higher, "Well...actually...'Zashi's my best friend and...I...I don't really know to make of her. I've known her all my life, but sometimes she just drives me so crazy...!"

"You think mine doesn't have the same effect on me?" Yuan-Yen smiled as she looked fondly towards the dark haired Watazashi, "But take my word for it, it's worth the aggravation."

"I quite agree," a sultry voice purred, startling Tachi as a pair of arms went around her, and before she could react she felt a hot breath blow something perfume-like into her nostrils, "A beautiful woman is worth any cost, in my opinion. You should seize the moment and take advantage of any opportunity that might come your way, because you never know if and when it might escape you."

"Price?" Tsuyori turned as the other gaped in amazement, seeing a honey-blonde haired girl appearing from the trunk of the tree against which Tachi was leaning, "What are you...?"

"Don't worry," Price addressed herself at the rest of the party while keeping her arms firmly wrapped around Tachi from behind her, "I won't harm your friend in any way...I simply want to borrow her for a while...so that we might do business together."

And with that both the strange girl and Tachi flowed into the tree as Ranko leaped to her feet and tried to come to her aid, only to find a solid trunk greet her hands as she explored there.

"What the hell just happened?" Silver sat upright, "That some kind of trick tree with a hidden...?"

"I'm afraid not," Kama Sutra sighed, "Price knows the Shadow Arts and can use natural objects as doorways between any two points...in this case, the tree and somewhere else in the complex. Your friend will be all right, though. Price may be sneaky, but she does know her business."

"Business?" Watazashi asked, "That's an interesting term for it."

"Well, this is a house of Miroku Ninja," Tsuyori explained, "And we do train here to fight with or against the Shikima in the defense of humanity, so...I'm afraid our sisters train at this sort of thing all of the time, only usually against each other."

"You guys kidnap your own sisters for a hobby?" Yuan-Yen asked, more than slightly disconcerted at the sudden disappearance of her own near-sister.

"It beats a normal game of Tag, as you must admit," Kama Sutra shrugged, "It's good practice and teaches us to remain on our guard at all times. You never know when being alert like that might save your life."

"A game of Tag," Akira shook his head in amazement.

"Sure hope we don't have to find out what you guys call soccer," Silver commented dryly.

"It's harmless good fun," Tsuyori remarked, "And it helps cut down on the sibling rivalry here, and when you've got as many sisters and brothers as we have..."

"A point well taken," Watazashi mused, exchanging looks with Yuan-Yen, "And we, too, understand the value of occasional games of discipline for...working out slight grievances," she adopted a sardonic leer that made Yuan-Yen blush all the more pretty.

Tinkerbell just shook her head in dismay, still amazed the more she studied this version of Watazashi and contrasted her with her own childhood companion. The ease and sly way that the black-haired, pigtailed gymnast had of flirting with just about everything female that came within visual range was certainly more brazen than the Watazashi that she knew, and yet there was that same charming smile, the sly cunning and duplicitous air of her Watazashi, and it caused Tinkerbell to be distracted far beyond what she would ever have allowed in herself, a degree of carelessness that manifested as she drifted a bit too close to one of the upper floor balconies.

A figure hanging upside down smiled as its patience was about to be rewarded. Tinkerbell was not even aware of its presence until the hand shot out and pinched her neck, then strong arms caught the hovering Fairy-girl before she fully blacked out, and with a nimble ease that was nearly cat-lithe, the figure slung the blonde girl into the shadows before anyone at ground level was any the wiser.

"You talk a lot about screwing your own sisters," Silver turned to Tsuyori, "But what about the guys here?"

"What about them?" Tsuyori replied with a pleasant nod, "They have it easy, they just have to keep the rest of us satisfied."

"Easy?" Akira asked, eyeing the tall girl dubiously, "You call that easy?"

"The standard rule here is that any boy can make love to any girl of this House, so long as she is fifteen or over," Kama-Sutra replied, "Girls under that age can only practice with other girls, either older sisters or girls in their age group."

"Why fifteen?" Ranko asked.

"A woman's body needs time to mature for the all-important act of procreation," Tsuyori explained, "And though we practice every precaution to limit the chances of it happening, there is always a possibility of pregnancy occurring when a boy comes to completion inside of a woman. Up to sixteen years of age, most girls don't have the pelvic structure that they would need to accommodate the safe passage of a child out of their bodies."

"Our parents insist that we wait until we are eighteen and have completed High School before we even think about becoming pregnant," Kama Sutra noted, "But as our mothers had us when they were only seventeen, they well understand the risks involved, and thus the House Rules that all must observe here."

"What about girls under the age of fourteen?" Yuan-Yen asked.

"We train them along different learning methods," Tsuyori replied, "The moment any one of us is old enough to have sexual feelings, they begin to train in the Intermediate Miroku arts, which starts with self-stimulation and eventually winds up working in teams with a partner."

"Before that, well...there are definite limits," Kama Sutra said with a slight smirk, "Always getting under heel are our younger brothers and sisters, most of whom train in a different wing of the House. We don't exactly keep them ignorant about what we older children do here, but few of them have any interest in sexual games at that age. I suppose to them the majority of us are simply perverts."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Watazashi smiled before turning a glance up and saying, "It's all a matter of...Tink? Tink-chan? Where did she go?"

"Huh?" Ranko glanced up and looked all around for the floating blonde who always seemed to be hovering in the background, but who now was no where to be found."

"You don't think she might have been taken as well?" Akira asked.

"We're dropping like flies here!" Silver exclaimed, now visibly alarmed as she glanced around at every shadow around them.

"I must say," Watazashi remarked, "As intriguing as the games you play here might be, I cannot say that I much relish being removed from the scene without so much as a 'by-your-leave.'"

"You got that right," Yuan-Yen said nervously, "Don't we at least get an engraved invitation?"

"Oh, would you prefer one?" asked the rock directly behind her, causing Yuan-Yen to jump up with a start as said rock unfolded itself and became a shapely girl with sultry long black hair and an equally sultry expression.

"And you might be?" Watazashi asked archly.

"Kimera," she said, "Daughter of both Houses of Miroku and Suzuka."

"Also master of the shapeshifting arts of disguise," Kami remarked, "You were waiting here patiently all along, weren't you sister?"

"Not alone," Kimera replied, nodding to one side, "Tenshin and Kurenai were waiting here with me."

"Indeed," said a tall light-haired boy as he stepped out from the concealment of another tree, "We've been keeping watch over you...just in case someone else tried something before us."

"Damn," Ranko blurted, "I didn't even know you were there!"

"As was our intention," said a girl with blue-green hair as she rose up from the grass near the base of the tree, virtually at Ranko's feet, "If you had known we were here, then we wouldn't be doing our job right."

"Your job?" Silver asked somewhat hesitantly, "Like...what's that?"

"Why, to Fuck you, of course," said a silver haired girl slowing out from the shadows directly behind Silver, "Why else do you think you are staying the night?"

"Ah..." Silver tried not to betray how startled she was at being surprised in such a manner.

"Are you sure that's really why we're here?" Akira asked, glancing around in dismay to find himself flanked by a pair of Miroku girls, one of whom was the fan-dancer, Bukotei.

"Trust us on this, Sugar," said Shikari Mido.

"We're just doing our part as proper hostesses," Bukotei assured in the same sensuous manner.

"Hey!" Silver began to protest when she felt Sakura slide up behind her and repressed the urge to take defensive measures.

"No need to worry yourself about it," Kurenai assured her, "My sisters and I would not mind sharing, if you don't mind it either."

"Ah..." Silver hesitated slightly, sensing something about this other silver-  
haired girl that all but screamed, "Don't Take Her For Granted!"

"Look," Yuan-Yen said reasonably, "This is all very nice of you, but..."

"But we would be only to happy to allow you to show us around," Watazashi said smoothly, winking at her companion, "After all...we are here to learn."

"Learn?" Ranko said nervously, "But..."

"You haven't even begun to sample our hospitality here," Tenshin said with an affable smile on his handsome face, "We would be remise not to at least give you the grand tour, if you will permit us."

"Kama and I were going to attend to that," Tsuyori noted, but shrugged prettily, "Still, if you insist on it, Brother, then I suppose we wouldn't mind sharing, eh Kama-chan?"

"The more the merrier for me," Kama replied, "That is...if it is agreeable to you, sister?"

Ranko glanced around at all the attractive faces turned her way, including her erstwhile companions, then shrugged in the face of the inevitable and sighed, "Sure...whatever."

"Should we stay together as a group or would you prefer the privacy of smaller groupings?" Sakura asked as she took Silver by the arm, ignoring the other girl's somewhat uneasy expression.

"Perhaps we should let the moment decide for us," Watazashi mused, "You are the hosts, we can only make ourselves available for whatever...arrangements you may decide is in our best interest."

"Sure, why not split us up?" Yuan-Yen murmured under her breath, "That way we can do more damage."

"I believe that I have the perfect place in mind," Kama smiled, "Follow me, everyone...I assure you that you will not regret this."

"Wanna make a bet on that, lady?" Silver asked in a low mutter, but nonetheless followed, keeping a close eye on the two hussies who dared lay a hand upon HER Akira...

Continued (In a special Side Story).

Comments/Criticisms/Orgiastic Free-Sparring Lessons: shadowmane

The graphic fun will be continued with the gang having their private flings with the various Miroku, but when they're done expect them to be on their way again for the fateful encounter with Ranma and Nabiki, who will otherwise be occupied once The Lord of Chaos enters the picture...and would you believe TWO Ranmas for the price of one? And what is the purpose of all of this "special training" leading to anyway? The climatic battle begins next chapter, so do kindly be there...you won't want to miss this!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: ~ All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	12. Chapter 12

RanSquareSS1

Realities Squared,

A Night of Delights

By Jim Robert Bader

(Loosely Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi,  
with characters and concepts supplied by Toshio Maeda and my fellow Fanfic writers Nicole Manders and D.B. Sommers)

Round One.

Traveling Companions

Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma.  
Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka.  
Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Princess Lum and Ataru.

Miroku girls

Kitten Saotome-17, cherry-pink haired daughter of Ranma-chan and Shampoo.  
Bonbori Tendo-15, purple haired daughter of Shampoo and Akane.  
Shikari Tendo-16, purple haired daughter of Akane and Miko.

"Can't we talk about this?" asked a nervous Rinse as she lay naked on her back, strapped to a padded table with both legs held spread wide by a pair of leather cuffs attached to metal bracers, and wondering how the hell she had ever let herself be talked into going along with this insane idea in the first place.

"What's to talk about?" Ryeka grinned as she examined herself critically in a mirror, having donned the revealing leather harness supplied by the Miroku girls, which came complete with a strap-on dildo attachment.

"You have heard the stakes of this competition outlined to you, Darling," Atari said as she ran her hands through her long green tresses and flexed her body while posing in front of an identical mirror, admiring the stark contrast between her supple, entirely feminine form with the rubber cock of her harness projecting in an upward curve that gave the impression of a masculine erection, "The first one of us who brings you to the most fulfillment proves herself the better suitor for your hand, which of course will be me..."

"In a Cabbit's eye," Ryeka sneered, "I'm gonna ride you like you've never been ridden before, Rin-chan, and I'm not just talking about the 'fooling-around-  
stuff" we've done in the past either! This is go-for-broke time, so get ready to party, 'cause Momma's gonna make you smile with her brand new booty!"

"Ah...that's the part I was hoping we could talk about," Rinse began perspiring even though the room was only moderately warm and the lighting was tastefully muted.

She felt the caress of a hand on her cheek and looked up to see the aptly named Kitten standing over her, grinning broadly, "Now you both understand the rules. You each get give minutes to bring her off for the first time, but don't rush yourselves, pace it so you make her hold out as long as you can. Remember, my sister and I will judge you as much for style and technique as for any heavy humping. The object is to make her Cum as many times as you can, and this is only the first round, so try and save a little of it for the second round..."

"The SECOND round?" now Rinse really was in a panic, wondering why in the hell she hadn't listened to her instincts when they told her to start running.

"Best two out of three times will decide the match," Bonbori added sweetly, "And the loser cedes nocturnal rights to the winner, who then gets to press her claim and demand concession rights out of the loser."

"Concession rights?" Atari quizzed, "What does that mean?"

"The winner gets to mount the loser and ride her like a dog until she begs for mercy, of course," Shikari explained with a suggestive leer, "And the loser has to do whatever the winner desires for a week, becoming virtually their slave and property, to humiliate and degrade themselves so that the victor may enjoy their victory all the more sweetly."

The grins that Ryeka and Atari gave to one another were like a malevolent invitation to see their respective rivals groveling at their feet. They each turned hungry leers towards the prone Rinse, who ceased struggling against the leather straps restraining her to the table and looked up at her nominal "Two Best Friends" as if they had both suddenly transformed into a pair of hungry wildcats.

"Uh oh," she murmured to herself, wondering where the hell Tachi was and if she might somehow be on her way to rescue her cousin from this unimaginable situation...

Tachi Kuno-17, brown haired daughter of Nabiki and Kuno.  
Price Tendo-15, brown haired daughter of Nabiki and Fubuki

Tachi's back hit the wall as Price shoved her up against it then began to methodically strip her upper chest of all impeding clothing. Tachi gasped, wondering why the hell she wasn't fighting back as her counterpart was not so much overpowering her as taking her by force without Tachi offering the least little protest.

She tried to clear her mind and think rationally again but some force was clouding her powers of reason, leaving her prey to the subtle manipulations of the amorous girl named Price Tendo, who was the daughter of the Nabiki of this world by another woman named Fubuki...and how that was even possible was something Tachi could not for the life of her imagine, short of the curse of Jusenkyo. All she knew was that her opponent was very methodical in stripping her down while leaving her without defenses. Tachi's bokken was tossed to one side, along with the harness that she wore concealed beneath her leather jacket. Said jacket also went into the growing pile, along with her shirt, bra and moneybelt, leaving Tachi denuded to the waist in only a matter of mere seconds.

And all the while that this occurred, Price was busy painting kisses all over Tachi's face, neck, shoulders and bosoms, the latter of which occupied the greatest amount of her attention as the other girl managed to somehow find and stimulate each and every pleasurable nerve along the way. Tachi was not just being made love to by the other girl, she was being ravished and devoured by passion, and for all her efforts to free herself from her curious mental languor, she found her body treasonously rebelling against her efforts as the sheer enjoyment level of the experience replaced whatever qualms she that she might have about the situation.

When Tachi's belt came undone and the other girl began to unzip her trousers, that was when Tachi nearly rebelled against what was happening, but her efforts were much too weak and her mind was being flooded with pleasurable stimulation, overwhelming what little reason she had left. When the first finger found her crotch and began to probe her Tachi felt herself giving in without protest. It had been a while since anyone but her own hand had visited the velvet gate to the center of her pleasure, and Tachi could not help shuddering as an electric fire shot up her spinal column and made her knees convulse with reflexive tension.

"My...how wet you are already," Price mused, removing a finger and bringing it up to her lips before licking, "You want this as much as I do, I suspect...or is there someone else you've been saving yourself for? I'll understand if you have objections, otherwise...prepare to be ravished!"

Tachi swallowed. Objections? Well...there could be the case of statutory rape that was being implied here, or perhaps this girl meant something else by her comment? Such as someone whom she would rather be doing this? Someone like Brand, or even...she swallowed again, not wanting to go there.

"I'm right, am I not?" Price asked, leering slightly as she studied Tachi's expression, and then her finger renewed the probing down between Tachi's inner thighs, "You want someone, but you're afraid to admit to your feelings. I can tell from your expression that you are thinking about them even now...but you won't face up to this fact, and I must confess that I find that curious. Why?"

"She's my cousin," Tachi said, "I can't do that to her...she's got enough problems as it is."

"Your cousin, Rinse, am I correct?" Price mused, continuing to probe with a finger as Tachi reflexively closed her eyes and gave a slight shudder of pleasure, "Curious...you want her but you are content to hang back and allow those two other girls to go after her. How very...economical..."

"Economical?" Tachi gasped between small breaths.

"Letting your rivals fight it out between each other while you get to hang back and enjoy the show," Price mused, "I'd call that a bargain relationship, especially if it means you get to be near the one you desire and have her trust as an advisor."

Tachi swallowed again, then gasped as she felt that cunning finger find an especially sensitive spot between her nerve centers.

"Of course it can also seem like a form of torture," Price mused, "To be near her and not be able to have her. Tell me...when did you first become aware of your feelings?"

"A-A-A couple of years ago," Tachi confessed, amazed that she could so easily be persuaded to make such an admission, "On a training mission...ohhhh!"

"Go on," Price urged, "How did this happen?"

"Ah..." Tachi groaned, "I-I'd rather not...s-s-say..."

"How admirable," Price mused, "I like a girl who can keep a secret, unless it's something I want to know about. But in this case I suppose I can just let you keep your precious privacy."

"O-O-Oh?" Tachi stuttered as she felt her body begin to convulse with all sorts of delicious, forbidden sensations.

"Of course that means I'm still going to screw you," Price leered as she sank down to her knees and replaced her fingers with her tongue, as Tachi leaned back into the wall and began an even more profuse series of groans, unable to help herself as the pleasure she was experiencing drove her steadily to distraction...

Tinkerbell Tendo -17, honey-blonde Pixie daughter of Kasumi and Perfume.  
Rose Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Kodachi and Ranma.  
Thorn Saotome -16, green haired daughter of Kodachi and Yaku.

"Nihao!" called Rose into the room before she swung up over the balustrade with the beautiful blonde slung over her shoulder.

"Hmm?" Thorn removed the earphones that she was using to listen to some music and saw her half-sister holding the girl named Tinkerbell in her arms. At once she put down the art tab that she had been using to fax messages to a pen pal and sat up on her bed, curiosity prompting her to say, "You poached one of the new girls? I didn't think that was permitted."

"Nobody seemed to mind, so I took her," Rose said pleasantly, "You want me to throw her back?"

"No," Thorn got up and approached the bed where her sister was setting the blonde Tinkerbell down, "Gosh, she's pretty! You sure she won't mind when she wakes up?"

"We could restrain her, just in case," Rose suggested.

Thorn considered it a moment then shook her head, "No, I rather not have her be angry and resentful towards us. Let's wake her up and see if she might be in the mood to talk a little."

"Just talk?" Rose arched dark eyebrows, "Sister dearest...you are such a romantic."

"Call it a weakness," Thorn smiled, "But just in case, keep a dab of Shikima juice on hand, we might need it to loosen her up a bit."

"Now you are talking like a Miroku," Rose grinned hugely.

"And don't you forget it," Thorn grinned as she gently touched a series of nerves along Tinkerbell's body, then watched as the blonde haired Fairy girl opened her eyes and tried to focus upon her.

"Z-Zashi-chan?" she asked weakly, slowly regaining her awareness.

"I'm afraid not, Beautiful," Thorn replied, "My name is Thorn, we met earlier, and this is my sister, Rose, who invited you up to our room."

"Rose?" Tinkerbell sat up, seeing the other girl who looked so much like Watazashi.

"Nihao," smiled a girl who looked very much like Watazashi, only she was dressed in more revealing attire reminiscent of a cross between a Gymnast and a Ninja, showing off an impressive physique whose womanly qualities were difficult not to notice.

"I'm sorry if Rose was a bit informal in grabbing you," Thorn cooed as she hovered very near to Tinkerbell, "But we wanted the opportunity to meet with you alone, and now that you are here perhaps we can become less formally acquainted."

"Ah...excuse me?" Tinkerbell's musical voice had a bell like quality that made her very nervousness sound like an opening stanza for a musical play.

"My, what a lovely voice you have," Rose said admiringly, "Somehow it fits the rest of you. I can see why you were so interested in this one, sister. She definitely shows great promise."

"Er..." Tinkerbell tried to recall what her last thoughts were before waking up on a bed in the middle of this room. To all appearances it seemed like something a typical High School student might have with posters and odd adornments giving the place a lived-in atmosphere, only there was something equally odd about it too. For one thing the bed she was laying on was a bit wider than usual and had two scents instead of one in the bedsheet, scents that matched both of these girls, which implied that their usual sleeping accommodations were together, and...

She swallowed on a suddenly very dry mouth and looked from one hungry, predatory expression to the other, then understood implicitly why she was there and said, "Oh..." very faintly.

"Tell us more about yourself, if you would," Thorn asked with pleasant humor, "Are you really the daughter of our Aunt Kasumi and an Amazon named Perfume?"

"Er...well..." Tinkerbell's tinkling voice made the slightly evasive quality of her tone seem to highlight the question, "I guess it does sound unusual...having two women for mothers..."

"Not to me it doesn't," Thorn cooed, "My mother is Kodachi and my Fama is Yuka. You'll find I'm not the only child who has two mothers instead of a father in the traditional sense. We Miroku know all sorts of techniques that blur the distinctions between the genders..."

"Not that they've shared too many of those with us," Rose pointed out, "Probably afraid we'd go hog wild and start impregnating one another if we put their techniques into practice."

"In a few cases they'd be well justified," Thorn mused, her face hovering just inches away from Tinkerbell, who eyed the green haired girl like any fawn might eye a wolf who was sniffing around for their supper, "But anyway, back to you. I can see you're somewhat...uneasy about being here. Tell us more about yourself...have you ever been laid?"

"Ah...well..." Tinkerbell squirmed prettily.

"You don't have to answer that one," Rose leered, "Even I can smell that you're still a virgin, and my nose is no where near as sensitive as Thorn's is."

"True," Thorn remarked, "And I find that incredible to imagine, that you have never been claimed by a lover. A beauty as rare and luscious as yourself should be the talk of the district, if not the whole province. You should be beating off lovers with a stick..."

"More like axes," Tinkerbell replied, blushing in spite of herself at the compliment as it took her by surprise, in spite of the obvious amorous intentions of these two women.

"Sounds about right," Rose murmured as she came up to the other side of the bed and sat down beside Tinkerbell, flanking the blonde girl between herself and her sister, "And I couldn't agree with Thorn more about his...you are an incredible find, and anyone who looked upon you would be a fool if they didn't jump at the chance to bed you."

"Ah...er...so..." Tinkerbell felt like melting right through the bed and phasing through the floor to escape, but something held her immobile as a new scent intruded upon her perceptions, a kind of perfume that was highly intoxicating and arousing. It once again clouded Tinkerbell's mind and made it hard to think clearly, though she was aware of a warming sensation passing all the way through her body.

Without warning Thorn's hand found its way to Tinkerbell's exposed thighs and began to gently stroke along the edge of her skin, adding to Tinkerbell's growing confusion as her body reacted to the stimulation in ways that further paralyzed her and prevented her from fleeing. Rose was next in running a hand against the outer fabric of Tinkerbell's clothing, caressing her breasts underneath as her nipples began hardening from reflex, and without any further preamble both girls leaned forward and began to kiss the hapless Tinkerbell along the sides of her face and neck, further overwhelming her defenses.

"How wonderful you smell," murmured Thorn, "Like Honeysuckle and marigold..."

"I'll bet you taste even more wonderful," Rose remarked as her hand slid down to caress Tinkerbell's inner thighs, then stroked along the edges of her panties, which grew moist as Tinkerbell's body continued to react positively to these stimulations.

Tinkerbell did not know what was going on, but she did know that she liked it! It wasn't as if she could think about getting away right then and there, or even remember why she might want to do so, she only knew that she was being seduced by two women who reminded her so powerfully of Watazashi, so much so that she could almost imagine that it WAS Watazashi doing this to her, and that alone was cause enough to relax her guard a little and go along with the flow...knowing very soon her juices would be flowing!

Kinko Kuonji -14, dark haired daughter of Akane and Ukyo, presently morphed into a golden-hued Angel.  
Koi Mido -16, black haired daughter of Miko and Dan.  
Achika Hibiki -16, dark haired daughter of Botsasu and Ryoga.  
Kashiko Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Fubuki.  
Bracelet Saotome -14, indigo haired daughter of Shampoo and Ukyo.  
Tekase Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Botsasu and Ranmaru.  
Tsuyosa Hibiki -16, dark haired son of Akane and Ryoga.

Kinko cried out in ecstasy, unable to believe how good it felt to be tongued like this by another girl her own age! The delights this Tekase was causing her was beyond her belief as Kinko threw her head back and cried for joy at her forth orgasm...and what the other four girls were likewise doing to her wasn't half bad either! On the whole Kinko was feeling incredibly stimulated and altogether lucky!

For example, Koi was being anything BUT coy in the way she fondled, licked, sucked and teased Kinko's left breast while Achika did the same thing to the other breast, giving Kinko the sense of being double-teamed by those of these sisters. At the same time the one named Kashiko was working on Kinko's legs and feet, stimulating and teasing each foot with tongue, teeth, fingers and mouth while stimulating certain nerve clusters that somehow increased the enjoyment that she was receiving from the rest of the players.

Of course Kinko was hardly idle in all of this, using her own mouth to experience her first case of cunnalingus with Bracelet. The Amazon girl's loins were incredibly moist and tasty as Kinko stuck her tongue up in the other girl's crotch and swirled it around a little, inspired by the way Tekase was eating her out to give back as good as she got with her sister. To judge by the way Bracelet was squirming above her and making all sorts of approving noises, Kinko decided that she was being an apt student and went on to practice some more with variations. She was rewarded moments later with the salty-sweet taste of Amazon love juices in her mouth, and this in turn inspired her own body to begin shuddering with a fifth orgasm, which Tekase eagerly enjoyed to the sounds of much slurping.

Miroku hospitality, Kinko mused, deciding that she liked the way these girls made friends on a first acquaintance. Kinko had been a virgin when she had entered this room, but she wouldn't feel like one when she left here, not by a long margin! No wonder her parents made love so often back at her place, in spite of the sounds that sometimes seemed more painful than pleasurable, which Kinko had naturally overheard coming from their bedroom on more than one occasion!

No wonder her parents enjoyed doing this so often! Kinko wondered why they'd been so nervous about finding out about such things, or why they'd given her older brother, Honsamu, such a hard time about his dates. Sex was fun, especially with girls who were this talented and enthusiastic! Her only regret would be that her relationships here were doomed to be transitory experiences, because she wouldn't mind taking a couple of these girls home to introduce to her parents...the really hard part would be in deciding which two to bring home. After all, at least one of them was a half-sister, and another was the daughter of the equivalent of her step-Dad, Ryoga. It might be hard enough to explain them to the folks without having to incorporate a minor thing like virtual incest!

"Oh, excuse me," a male voice intruded in on the sounds of sucking, moaning and profuse groaning that punctuated the room, "Did I get lost again? I was looking for the Jacuzzi..."

Achika left off what she was doing to Kinko's right breast and looked up with a pleasant, "Tsuyosa-kun, what good timing, Big Bro! You want to help us out, here? We're trying to show the new girl here a good time, and the only thing we're lacking is some male action."

"Achi-chan," Bracelet chided, "You know Kinko-chan is too young for Tsu-kun to play with. You want to get us all in trouble?"

"Oh pooh," Achika pouted, "This is her first time, have a little compassion here. I just want Oniichan to give a little demonstration of his manly prowess with one of us so she'll know what to expect when she gets a bit older. He can do it with me or Kashi-chan, or even Koi, if she's feeling game enough to ride him."

"Ride Tsuyosa-kun?" Koi looked up from where she had been devouring Kinko's pussy, "Sure, no problem there. Come over here, big boy, and fill up my slot. I've got a hot little love-box just waiting for you to enter."

"Ah..." Tsuyosa sounded somewhat hesitant, "I just got off my shift and I was really looking to get a good soak before turning in..."

"Oh nonsense," Achika said as she got up and went over to the boy whom Kinko now could see was a very handsome male youth with short-cropped dark hair and a somewhat clueless expression very much reminiscent of Ryoga, "Come on, join the fun, don't be a stick-in-the mud like Dad."

"Yeah," said Bracelet as she climbed the rest of the way off Kinko's face to join a naked Achika in drawing him by the hand to where the action was waiting, "And how many times do you get to make it with a real-live Angel?

"Uh, well, actually..." the handsome boy replied as he allowed himself to be led towards where the action was, and Kinko could see how oddly reluctant he was, yet how malleable in the way that he let the girls take charge in stripping him down and in this way he somehow reminded Kinko of Honsamu.

All of a sudden her curiosity was piqued, because as much fun as she was having with the other girls, this boy represented new opportunities to learn by observation, and she wasn't about to pass up on the opportunity. Her Fama always said that opportunity was a guest who came knocking around only once in a great while, and it was a foolish host who would fail to answer, and Kinko always made a point of listening to what her parents told her.

Up to a reasonable point, of course, and then she went with her own best judgement...

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Akane and Ranma.  
Silver Saotome-17, silver haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo.  
Akira Tendo -20, dark haired son of Kasumi and Shampoo-kun.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Kodachi and Ranma.  
Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Nabiki and Mousse.  
Kama-Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko and Ranma.  
Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo and Ranma.  
Sakura Kuonji-15, silver haired daughter of Ukyo and Ranma.  
Tenshin Saotome-16, brown haired son of Fubuki and Ranma.  
Bukotei Mido-16, dark haired daughter of Miyu and Ranma.  
Kurenai Mido-15, green haired daughter of Miko and Yaku.  
Kimera Suzuka-14, dark haired daughter of Miyu and Dan.

"...And this," announced Sakura rather matter-of-factly, "Is what we call the Recreation Area, a place to unwind and have fun while the Parental Units are away. All kinds of neat games go on in here, and quite a few of them are very energetic, if you take my meaning."

Silver eyed the other girl leaning close to her, then scanned a spacious room that had everything from a pool table to a set of couches, furnishings and a tea table that for some reason looked oddly less innocent than might be imagined. She could not quite say just why, but she had a sense that the place saw a lot more usage in other ways than you might find at an average health club.

"Ah...would you guys excuse me for a moment? I need to go powder my nose," she asked, hoping to beg off for a bit so that she would have an excuse to seek out some cold water.

"What's your hurry?" Tenshin asked, "Stay a moment and check this place out."

"It's a fair guess that you don't have anything quite like it back where you live," mused the fan-dancer, Bukotei, hopping up onto the pool table and spreading her legs in a suggestive manner while smiling at her sister, Kurenai, who obligingly strolled up with a leering expression.

Ranko watched the two girls while simultaneously keeping an eye on everyone else in their odd party. Watazashi and Yuan-Yen seemed obligingly intrigued as Kurenai began undoing the other girl's sash, then peeling away her light kimono-  
like robe to expose the top part of her naked body, then lean in to share a very intimate kiss together. Ranko noted the expression of the young man named Akira as he saw that the two girls were beginning to get into and recognized a very odd mix of uneasiness and intrigue. In her mind most men usually thought with their dicks anyway, so it was none too surprising that he would be interested in seeing two women making love together, but the way he seemed reluctant to watch meant that he was not too comfortable with his own impulses. That left him in the category of a shy boy, not at all like a regular pervert (and she knew what Perverts looked like, having partially been raised by Happosai).

It was the other girls in the room who drew the rest of her attention their way. Kimera the shape-shifter was leering hungrily at both her two siblings and the well-matched pair of Watazashi and Yuan-Yen. Tsuyori and Kama Sutra were watching the affairs like a pair of doting older sisters, but from their matching smiles it was easy to guess that something very sensual was in the works and they were intent on enjoying every moment of the action. Ranko was not too sure what that action might consist of, but she was betting even Yen that it wasn't your average game of Shogi or Mah Jong.

Bukotei allowed Kurenai to ease her back onto the table as the green haired younger girl painted her body with affectionate kisses. Kurenai stripped Bukotei of her robe and laid her out on the table, turning her around so that she was set on top of the middle of the velvet, with arms and legs extended to nearly touch all four of the corner. Kurenai smiled as she reached down into one of the billiard pockets, and then she pulled out a ring-like attachment that had a chain connecting it to some pulley mechanism concealed within the pocket itself. She flipped the circlet around one ankle and it clicked into place, then she tickled the Fan-Dancer's bare foot and received a light giggle for her efforts. Kurenai then went to the other pocket and pulled out another ring, which she attached to Bukotei's other ankle and secured it in place, thus holding her legs far apart in a "V" formation.

"Is she doing what I think she's doing?" Silver asked rather nervously.

"Sure is," Sakura smiled, "And the fun's not even really started yet. Just watch."

Kurenai's hands glided up her sister's body and elicited approving sounds that were halfway between a long sigh and a series of giggles. Bukotei watched as her sister moved to the opposite end of the pool table then reached into another pocket and pulled out yet another of the rings there, which she clicked around Bukotei's right wrist, then she did the same thing to her left, and then stood back as the Fan-Dancer flexed her body a bit until she was fully settled in, held fast to the table in an "X" shaped pattern, smiling in a way that quite belied the fact that she was now effectively imprisoned.

Kurenai then smiled as she went to one side of the table and reached down to press a hidden control, which cause a slight humming noise to resonate as the chains binding Bukotei seemed to retract a bit more into the pocket, pulling her body taunt until a slight gasp escaped her, at which point Kurenai stopped the mechanism. She smiled at the helpless Bukotei and then climbed onto the table to straddle her naked body, having already shed her own silken robe so that there would be nothing to come between her and full contact with her sister.

"You guys are into S&amp;M?" Silver asked, now more than slightly nervous.

"Very," Sakura replied with a sensual purr, "It's good relaxation training and it helps us limber our bodies in ways very different from normal training methods. For example, do you know what a turn on the rack can do to improve your posture and alleviate cramps and back pain?"

"Oh yes," Watazashi nodded, "Yuan-chan and I do this sort of thing all of the time...but I confess to being intrigued at your clever disguise of implements of torture in the guise of more conventional play equipment."

"Our parents pioneered these devices," Tenshin remarked, "They've seen considerable usage in their day, and the carpeting on that table has had to be replaced at least five times that I know about."

"She's not going to hurt her, is she?" Akira asked with more nervousness than before.

"Only if it furthers the effect of heightening her pleasure," Kimera replied, "They're both very skilled at these sorts of games...we all are. It's a regular part of Miroku training."

"You get your rocks off on being tied up and tortured?" Ranko asked uneasily.

"Depends on your definition of torture," Kama Sutra answered, nodding to the two on the table, "Watch and learn, you may even enjoy this part."

Indeed, the sounds coming from Bukotei were anything but unpleasant noises, and if anything the way Kurenai was running her hands up and down the other girl's body was causing her to experience considerable pleasure. In fact, the Fan-  
Dancer was alternating between light giggles and mild groaning, and as the others crowded around to get a closer look they could see that the blue-haired Kurenai was varying between tickling and stroking her sister's body, causing the darker haired girl to switch back from chuckling to groaning, flexing her taunt body as much as she could and clearly enjoying herself in an escalation of alternating pleasurable sensations.

"See what I mean by calling this Therapy?" Sakura murmured into Silver's ear, her hand surreptitiously sliding around the other girl's waist as she leaned forward, bringing her lips closer to nuzzle the other white-haired girl as she studied Silver to see if there might be a reaction. When none immediately came she leered suggestively, "If you're curious to find out, I can show you myself...or you could try experimenting on me. I wouldn't mind that in the slightest."

Silver's eyes turned towards Sakura but she neither turned her head nor sought to avoid her, but it was plain from the uncertainty in her expression that she did not know exactly how to take this.

Bukotei's groans began to become more frequent than her giggles as Kurenai got serious in her intentions. Tenshin helpfully went to a side table and pulled a number of items out of a drawer, then laid them down beside the two girls and stood back to watch the fun, which did not take long in coming. Kurenai thanked her brother and then began to squeeze and fondle Bukotei's large breasts, molding them between her fingers until she selected one and began to pinch and tug on one nipple, attaching a clip to it as soon as it was erect from her attentions. She went to work on the other bosom and soon attached the other end of the chain-connected clips, to which Bukotei leaned back on the table and moaned ever so softly, hissing slightly when Kurenai began to fondle her again, causing the chain linking her nipples to flex taunt and then slack in varying wave patterns.

"So..." Kimera sidled up alongside Watazashi and Yuan-Yen, imposing herself between both girls as she laid a hand about their hips as she purred sensuously, "You two have done the nasty together, eh? Light action or heavy? We can accommodate any tastes you have for the asking."

"Indeed," Watazashi exchanged amused looks with Yuan-Yen, "Tell us more. What would you suggest for a first-time encounter?"

"I can suggest quite a lot, if you'll permit me," Kimera turned to glance at one girl, then the other, "So...which of you is top and which of you likes to be on the bottom?"

"It hardly much matters," Watazashi replied, "But I usually prefer to be the one doing the giving, and Yuan-chan is very good at receiving."

"Works either way with me," Yuan-Yen assured them, "If you want, I'll go first, and then I'll get my shot at both of you later."

"Deal," Kimera smiled, then gently steered the two girls over to one corner, "Observe this harmless looking podium...you'd never guess to look at it what purposes it can be put to."

"Other than for reading or to give a lecture?" Watazashi smiled with wicked intentions plain in her expression.

"Just so," Kimera went to the podium, which set near to the walls in one corner beside a small library full of books, and then she pressed a hidden stud and flipped the table top part over, turning it around and removing the flat wooden surface to expose a set of ring-like holes in the brace that was revealed beneath this. She stood this part horizontal and then flipped a few more parts to secure it in this position, then unlatched one end and revealed the hidden hinge.

"Now," the dark haired Kimera cooed, indicating the bracer, "I don't suppose I need to explain to you the particulars of this part."

"Not in the slightest," Yuan-Yen smiled as she pulled off her tank-top and tossed it to the floor, then boldly walked up to the podium and leaned down, putting her hands and neck into the half-circle slots so that Kimera could close it down again, trapping her between the circles of the bracer.

"How clever," Watazashi said approvingly, "A functioning pillory, and I see that the circles are well padded for extra comfort."

"Of course," Kimera smiled, going to the bookshelves and pressing another hidden lever, "After all, we're not barbarians here."

The book cases flipped around like in a movie and revealed that the other side was a fully equipped display case that sported some very exotic looking articles the nature of which would have warmed the heart of the Marquis de Sade. Watazashi's eyes lit up with delight as she calculated all the interesting possibilities that now lay open for her and Yuan-Yen. Though Yuan herself was turned away from the wall, she saw the look in her partner's eyes and began to softly murmur, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all..."

"Uh...look," Silver tried to dissuade the gentle-mannered but insistent Sakura, "I'd really like to go to the bathroom first before we...ah...do this, okay?"

"Fine by me," Sakura replied in a throaty voice as she set to undoing the buttons on Silver's cheongsam, already exposing enough cleavage to give her the chance to slip a hand into the other girl's shirt and fondle one well-sized bosom, "I'll show you the way...but only in another minute."

Silver glanced down at the hand, then gasped and tried very gently to work herself free from the other girl's embrace, "Er...really...you don't have to...just tell me where it is. I'll only be a minute, I promise."

"A minute can seem like such a long time," Sakura mused as the rest of the buttons of the cheongsam came undone, and then she removed Silver's shirt entirely, peeling it off of her body to expose tender and well-toned flesh to full view.

"Ah..." Silver's eyes went to Akira, who was now looking at her with widened eyes, and all of a suddenly she felt the urge to cover her now-naked breasts (for she had not been wearing a bra underneath). This time she made a more serious effort to free herself from the other girl, and to her surprise Sakura reluctantly let her go. Silver flushed a bright crimson as she saw the concern in the expression of her new "friend" and promptly said, "Honest, I mean it...I won't be away that long. I just need a moment to myself, okay?"

Sakura pouted but she pointed to a door to one side and said, "The privy is that way...it connects to the shower-sauna and Jacuzzi. If you're sure you don't want me to accompany you..."

"I'll go with her," Ranko said, crossing the room in a few steps and grabbing hold of a much-surprised Silver, all but yanking her into the room as Ranko hastily opened and shut the door behind them.

"Hey, what gives with you?" Silver asked as she lowered her hands, obviously not as nervous about exposing herself around Ranko, who nonetheless kept reminding her of her father.

"We need to talk, Sis," Ranko said seriously, "And I don't just mean about you and the Fox girl who wants to screw you."

"Oh?" Silver asked as she studied Ranko's expression, "I don't suppose you want to start lecturing me about how I do my flirting? I saw you giving Akira an eye-full...well, he's mine, so you back off on him, Sister!"

"I don't want him," Ranko was surprised by the tone of accusation from the other girl, "That isn't what I want to talk about at all. Well...actually it is, but I'm not after your boy friend. You see...the pendant told me something about the two of you a while ago, and I've been thinking it over for a bit, and...well...I think I really ought to share this with you."

"Share what?" Silver said with a slight frown, "What about me and Akira?"

"You told me he was the adopted son of Tendo Kasumi, right?" Ranko replied, studying the other girl's face before she said, "Well...he's not really adopted. He really is her son. The pendant told me he has her Midachodrial whatever in his DNA, which means she really is her mother."

"So?" Silver replied after a pause of only a few seconds.

"You knew about that?" Ranko asked in mild surprise.

"I had a pretty strong hunch before now," Silver answered, "And I'm just as sure that Akira knows it, too. He's a Tendo, what about it?"

Ranko frowned, "Why would Aunt Kasumi pretend that she only adopted him? I may not know her as well as you do, but I've always heard that she was a very honorable woman."

"Nobody more honorable in her family," Silver replied, "And I'll clean the clocks of anybody who says different about my Aunt Kasumi."

"So why doesn't she acknowledge him as her real son?" Ranko asked.

"Because her father's an emotional wreck about anything that happens to his family," Silver shrugged, "She didn't want to upset him by telling him that she'd had sex with a guy without getting married. Supposedly it happened while she was in China studying medicine with an Amazon Healer, but the timing for her baby was kinda suspicious, or at least my Aunt Kurumi thinks so."

"Ah...she might have an even better reason for not telling anybody who the father is," Ranko continued to study Silver's expression, "Because the pendant thing says he's...kinda related to you, too. In fact...she's your mother."

There was a much longer pause before Silver made a reply, but then she shocked Ranko by saying, "What about it?"

"You're not upset that he's your half-brother?" Ranko blinked.

"Mom and Aunt Kasumi have always been real tight with each other," Silver replied, "Wouldn't surprise me if they had done it together at least once. The only one who doesn't seem to know anything about it is Dad, and he ain't exactly the most perceptive guy around, even I admit that."

"But...but you...?" Ranko fumbled.

"Oh, and like the idea that I want to have sex with him is all that surprising?" Silver snorted, "You forget, I've known him most of my life...he's more than just a brother to me, he's like my best friend. You can't imagine what it's like..." she turned away, her face momentarily tight with emotions.

"No," Ranko replied, "I don't know what it's like. I never had anyone my own age to care about growing up. I've only had adults around me...no real family besides Grampa and Grandma Nodoka, and Grandpa Happosai. Never had any brothers or sister, or cousins either...although it turns out I did have one younger sister I never met before beginning this parallel time business."

"Gee, that's rough," Silver said gruffly, "I've only heard about Happosai from Dad and Mom, and mostly they just cuss his memory, though I hear he did something great and noble in the end. Didn't you even have friends growing up?"

"Friends?" Ranko gave a harsh laugh that held more bitterness than she had intended, "What's that? I knew other kids my own age, but I was always the one they thought was a little weird because all I do is study martial arts and travel around with Gramps on panty raids and stuff like that. When I got my curse it just made things a little weirder for me is all. I haven't really spent that much time around kids my own age outside of school before I met up with guys like Rinse and Watazashi. It's kinda nice having sisters, and the best part of all this time tripping is getting the chance to meet people like you, who show me how life could have been if my Mom..."

This time it was her turn to look away, and her hands balled into fists as though she were looking for something to hit. She had to take a deep breath before she could say again, "Before my Mom went nuts and murdered most of my family...including my Dad and Aunts Nabiki and Kasumi."

"No..." Silver did not even try to conceal her reaction this time, "No way...not Aunt Akane?"

Ranko nodded, unable to speak for several long seconds as she replayed in her mind the horrific images that she had witnessed only that very morning.

"Kami-sama," Silver exclaimed, "I'd always known Aunt Akane has a temper, but she's never been that bad. How did it happen?"

"Do I look like a shrink?" Ranko turned a harsh glare at her, but then got ahold of herself and said, "I guess there was just something wrong with her that made her go PMS on Dad and her sisters. They locked her up in a nuthouse and she never came out, but she lived long enough to have Meiko, which means I have family somewhere out there that I never even knew growing up."

"Kuso..." Silver murmured, and for a long moment neither one of them said anything, but then Ranko sighed and turned to look at her again and smiled.

"I guess maybe family means a lot more to me because I all but grew up without one," she admitted, "I wiped out my own timeline, made it as if I'd never even been, and then I saw a new timeline where everything turned out just right, and a version of me grew up with her family around her. I guess in away that makes it worth all the hassles I went through yesterday when I got grabbed up on this big mysterious quest that the rest of you have gotten caught up in along with me. It may not make a whole lot of sense, but I'd glad that I met you, and not just because this whole thing's a huge improvement on the so-called life I used to live. I even got to make it with someone who reminds me a lot of my Aunt Kodachi, who's my own age, and a half-sister at that...so maybe life isn't so bad this way, and I've got no business complaining to you about incest."

"You and that girl who reminds me a lot of Gel?" Silver replied, relaxing slightly, "I guess that's your business. The girl I know who's mother is Kodachi can be real scary at times, and she's after me on account of I kinda defeated her as a guy, and because she doesn't know about my girl half..."

"So, you sleep with her as a guy?" Ranko smiled with a knowing expression.

"Well, it's a whole lot safer that way," Silver shrugged, "I mean, she wants to marry me and all that, but at least I don't have to worry about what happened between me and Yu-chan happening with her, just as long as I avoid taking hot baths with her."

"That must be pretty awkward," Ranko admitted, then thought for a moment before saying, "Yu-chan...you mean that blonde named Yuriko?"

"I kinda like her," Silver shrugged, then saw the look on Ranko's face and said, "Not like that, although she is a babe, and I'll be the first to admit it. We were kind of friends growing up, but one day she got real weird on me, saw me in my guy form, and...well...I kinda noticed after that happened that she started to avoid me for a while there. I guess it still kind of freaks her out in some ways, only I'm not really sure why. I mean...everybody else who knows about my curse gives all that much of a fig."

"Maybe she got a crush on you and didn't want to admit it," Ranko suggested.

"Yeah, right," Silver snorted, "I mean, she's got two mothers, and they love each other, so what's her big deal? I know she's kinda rebellious and fights a lot with her folks, so I guess maybe she's going through one of those values-  
rejecting things I see happening with other girls our age. I mean, she was conceived because of Jusenkyo water...her father was Ai Konjou for Kami sakes! So what's her big deal about me turning into a studly guy that other girls wanna date?"

"You think she's envious about that?" Ranko asked.

Silver frowned a moment then said, "Could be...she won't talk with me about it, so your guess is as good as mine."

"I've had girls look at my male half and act weird," Ranko said, "So I guess I hear where you're coming from on this. So...what about you and other girls."

"What about other girls?" Silver asked, instantly wary.

"Come on," Ranko nudged her half-sister, "She was all but drooling all over you, and you seemed to be enjoying it, but you act like you don't want to go all the way..."

"Why should I mind if other girls find me attractive?" Silver asked, "It's not a big deal with me if they've got good standards. Doesn't mean I wanna do it with 'em, though...at least not as a girl..."

"So you came in here to turn into a guy, huh?" Ranko asked.

"Well, why not?" Ranko retorted, "The ratio of guys to girls is pretty lopsided. I figure I can even things out a bit by showing them what a stud I can be when I turn on the ol' Saotome Charm."

"Modest aren't we?" Ranko said in amusement.

"I call it being honest," Silver smirked, "What, you telling me you'd rather do it in your girl half?"

"Well..." Ranko hesitated as she started to think about it, when the door to the privy slid open a bit and Sakura poked her head in.

"You guys have been in here longer than a minute," she said, almost pouting, "And you're missing quite a show out here. I think Akira's about to succumb to the persuasive powers of my sisters."

"What?" Silver lurched forward, only to find Sakura's arm in her way, momentarily impeding her progress.

"Oh, just for the record," Sakura informed her, "You can do it with me as either a guy or your girl half...whichever you feel more comfortable with, just as long as you do it with me." She winked for further emphasis, then removed her arm from Silver's path.

"Ah..." Silver looked into the eyes of the other girl, momentarily at a loss until Ranko nudged her from behind and said, "You'll never know what you're missing until you try it, like I did."

"Ah...well..." Silver blushed crimson again, turning to look beyond Sakura at where Akira seemed to be almost backed up to the wall by the amorous Tsuyori and Kama-Sutra. She started to lurch forward, only to find her face turned around, and before she could even blink Sakura's lips found hers and she was being kissed by the other girl, who clearly had overheard every word of the conversation between Silver and Ranko.

Ranko was also staring at the girl named Kurenai, who seemed to be lighting a candle and holding it over the naked Bukotei, who was making faint noises as the hot wax dripped over her body. Off in the corner she saw the boy named Tenshin pumping away at Yuan-Yen, who had her face buried in the space between Watazashi's thighs, while Kimera stood behind the Black Rose and fondled her breasts from behind, nuzzling Watazashi's neck and shoulders with her lips.

"Oh yeah," she murmured to herself, "This is sure turning out to be some party..."

Round Two.

When Saotome Rinse was only nine she had first encountered the girl named Masaki Ryeka, who had been crying her eyes out all alone in a school play yard. A new transfer student, she had been subjected to a kind of hazing ritual by the other kids that had left her feeling angry and humiliated. Rinse had immediately taken pity on her and sought to approach, only to be met by wary skepticism as Ryeka was instinctively suspicious about any stranger who professed to offer friendship. Rinse had to try many times before she could convince the blue-  
haired girl of her sincerity, and even then she was on probationary status with Ryeka for many months before at last Ryeka learned to trust her.

Rinse was quite fascinated by the alien girl, who was the daughter of a Juraian Princess and a notorious Space Pirate, created as an experiment in recombinant DNA by her mad-scientist grandmother, Washu. Ryeka could fly, walk through walls, teleport, had enormous strength for her size and an ability to regenerate that was far greater even than Rinse's father. Ryeka could also shoot bolts of energy that were enormously destructive, and she could survive a long time without air, or generate forcefields that could protect more than just herself, all of which made her a powerful ally for a young and struggling martial artist who sometimes found herself being roped into her parents' adventures.

Ryeka, like Rinse, was the child of a household that had a father and two mothers, so they bonded on that level and became good friends after their initial probation. Over the years Rinse had been a close confidant who would share secrets that they would not tell to anyone else but Tachi, who formed a third member of their close-knit inner circle. Tachi was the brains of their team, Rinse and Ryeka were the muscle, and together they would often go on adventures of their own and often wind up getting into trouble with their respective elders, but this only served to strengthen the ties that grew between them.

Rinse had even come to rely a great deal on Ryeka's friendship to help her cope with the stresses that came as a result of her intense training. She measured herself against Ryeka, who set a standard that was impossible for a normal human girl to emulate, yet nonetheless Rinse would still try, and in the meantime wind up teaching Ryeka a good deal about the Anything Goes system. Ryeka had a wild streak and would sometimes prove to be a handful, but Rinse had never been afraid of her, and had even come to care a great deal about her, even flirting on occasions when they both entered that awkward state in which a young girl might experiment in her sexuality, as she had done one summer with both Tachi and Ryeka.

And yet that innocent fooling around had seemed fairly harmless at the time. They were all of fourteen and still very much undecided about the sort of people that they wanted to be when they got older, so naturally they had tended to try new things out in the hopes that each one would find her niche and then seek companionship in that direction. It had never even occurred to Rinse that Ryeka might decide that the thing she wanted most was her, in fact she had been quite unaware that her friend had developed a crush a crush of this nature until a very short time ago, when the announcement of her unwitting engagement to Ryoukio had prompted Ryeka to take preemptive action.

And now here she was flat on her back with a false cock being shoved into her vulva and Ryeka attached by a harness to the other end. Rinse was helpless to do anything but yield to the insistent pressure against her loins as Ryeka drew back and pushed in with slow and steady rhythms, having made certain to first lubricate the opening by applying cunnalingus to get Rinse into the proper state of arousal. Rinse had not been prepared to be eaten out like that, had actually enjoyed the experience and was amazed at the way Ryeka's long tongue had speared her and swirled around her opening to somehow fill her to a degree that was not to be believed! Rinse had actually climaxed twice before Ryeka had elected to mount her, and now she was well on her way to her fourth glorious orgasm and with no end in sight as the blue haired girl got well and truly into the action.

Off to one side Atari stood watching this occur with a hungry, eager expression. Rinse saw the lust in her eyes and recalled their meeting two years back when they had almost literally bumped into each other, and in a classic case of misunderstood intentions would up in a spontaneous brawl that ended when Atari had generated a bolt of electric current that had momentarily stunned Rinse, prompting Ryeka to jump into the fray and take violent exception to the green haired alien girl's behavior.

Rinse had recovered moments later and found herself suddenly quite angry with the girl who had shocked her, so when Ryeka had made the mistake of touching Atari and received a shock of her own, it was enough to set Rinse off in full Amazon mode, coupled with Saotome pride that refused to acknowledge losing. Atari had proved quick and agile enough to avoid her initial attacks, but Rinse had pressed on ahead and took the initiative to draw Atari in for a retaliatory maneuver that climaxed with the use of the Hiryu Shoten Ha, which took Atari by surprise and sent her spinning out of control. She crashed into the school tower and was momentarily stunned by the blow and could no longer remain airborne. When Rinse saw that the girl was falling from a great height and might be injured in the landing she forgot all about her anger and reacted like a Saotome, rushing to her aid and catching her before she could touch ground. In the process, though she wound up accidentally gripping Atari by her horns and so unwittingly completed an important ritual of her people, literally the equivalent to the Kiss of Life among Amazons. From that moment on she took to calling Rinse her "Darling" and tended to follow her around like an eager-to-  
please puppy.

Of course the more time she spent with the Oni girl the better she got to know Atari and came to like her in almost the same sense as Ryeka. The girl-for all her aristocratic ways-was terribly lonely for companionship and welcomed the chance to spend time with Rinse, proving in her own way to be a good friend and a valuable ally where it truly mattered. That she flirted with Rinse quite shamelessly was just something that Rinse had gotten used to, even when this flirting had provoked outrage from Ryeka, who seemed to take a strong dislike of the other girl and began a rivalry that had last two years and now seemed more potent than ever.

Her turn was next, and that gave Rinse an even greater sense of nervousness, for if the discovery that Ryeka had these sorts of feelings for her was a bit of a revelation, Atari's interest was downright alarming. Atari seemed a far more possessive sort than even Ryeka and gave Rinse the strong impression that she wanted more of a say in Rinse's life than Rinse felt comfortable about. Who knew what Atari might seek to do with such influence if she were Rinse's fianc e instead of Ryoukio? It was an intimidating prospect, yet still Rinse could see no way to talk either of her friends out of their intentions to screw her (both physically and in a metaphorical context).

Where the hell was Tachi during all of this? She could almost imagine her cousin's suave, smug commentary, the slightly condescending air she manifested when teasing Rinse about some of her antics. Tachi was usually her foil for deflecting the other two away from causing Rinse serious troubles, and Rinse had come to rely on her cousin's advice and sound judgement in matters where solving problems through the use of the least resistance to achieve a given end was absolutely mandated. If not for Tachi helping her out over the years Rinse would have gotten into ten times more trouble than she had, and it was worth the occasional teasing Tachi would give her just to see her cunning smile telling Rinse that everything would be all right and there was nothing to be worried about, that things eventually would all work to the better.

"Soon, my darling, soon," Atari murmured while she played with the false-cock that was projecting from the harness she had strapped about her hips.

Rinse opened her eyes and looked at the green haired half-Oni, amazed at the throaty, sensual purr that was in Atari's tones as she said this. Rinse had known that Atari liked her, but until that moment she had never suspected just how much or how desperately the other girl could lust for her body. Ryeka was still hammering away at the gate to her loins and giving her thrusts an almost cork-screw like action that was steadily driving Rinse past the edge of her next big orgasm, and then Kitten spoke up and said, "Times up, you've managed to do her into five full orgasms. That's pretty good for a start, but it's time to let your competition have a go at your Airen. Atari, you have fifteen minutes to do with her as you like, so make the most of them since we'll be awarding points for technique and not just the number of times you bring her off to fulfillment."

"Hah, childsplay," Atari scoffed as she and Ryeka traded snide glances before she took the place of the other girl and was poised above the purple-haired girl's moistened pussy. She knelt down and brought her face close to the gate of Rinse's pleasure while Rinse turned bluish eyes her way and waited uncertainly for the second stage of her screwing to begin in earnest.

Atari-true to her aristocratic upbringing-made a great production about composing herself before bringing her mouth into play, treating Rinse's charms as though she were an oyster to be savored. Rinse stared as the lower half of Atari's lovely face disappeared below the horizon formed by the length of Rinse's body, and then leaned back her head as she felt the first tentative touches of her tongue against her steaming hot loins. Atari began quite gently to probe her with the tip of her tongue, but then she grew bolder in her maneuver and began thrusting the tongue with a purpose to lick around the ledge of Rinse's pink meat until she felt the subtle invitation to spear her loins become an overpowering desire, and from that grew to a real hunger.

Rinse gave back a loud yelp and arched her back while tensing her legs to no avail, unable to free herself as her lets were held spread wide by metal stirrups. Rinse gave a loud cry of delighted approval as the tongue-lashing continued with Atari orally probing deeper and deeper territory, remaining firmly attached to the purple haired girl's loins until she skillfully shepherded Rinse to a state of maximum orgasm.

Once satisfied that she had sufficiently lubricated Rinse up again, Atari daintily licked her lips then stood erect and poised with her false-cock laid smooth and flat over Rinse's taunt belly. With great care and deliberation she ran the head over Rinse's opening before at last inserting it into her well-  
moistened slot, then gracefully she moved forward and filled Rinse all the way, eliciting a gasp from purple haired girl as it went in to full capacity, with Atari gyrating her hips a little to work it in deep and maximize full contact with the inner lining of her pussy. Once settled, she began to grind her loins against Rinse's purple muff as a faint electrical tingle flowed over the head of the shaft, giving it a slight humming vibration that sent all of Rinse's nerves ablaze with unbelievable tactile sensations!

It was like being ridden by a vibrator, an effect that Atari no doubt had anticipated as she smiled in triumphant revel at Rinse's helpless delight over such treatment. It was plain that Atari meant to win this competition by whatever means were at her disposal, a fact that did not go unnoticed by her nominal rival.

"Hey!" Ryeka growled, hearing and detecting the faint hum of current, "That's cheating!"

"It's all part of the game," Bonbori informed her, "She gets to use any means at her disposal to give your friend a maximum sendoff, just as you did when you were going at her like a wild mare playing stallion."

"Of course," Shikari murmured slyly, "If you want to retake your advantage, there is an opening you might claim," and she surreptitiously pointed to Atari's rump, which was flexing with the slight tensions of her muscles as she worked the vibrating cock in good and deep.

Ryeka saw what the Miroku girl mean, smiled, and levitated slightly up behind Atari, taking a firm grip of the Oni's hips before the green haired princess was any the wiser.

"Eh...what?" Atari started to protest.

"Careful," Ryeka said, "Shock me and you shock Rinse-chan, and she can't take it as well as I can. Besides which you'll lose the competition."

"Unhand me you Scion of a filthy Pirate!" Atari protested, only to have her eyes go very round as she felt the still-moist head of Ryeka's false cock press against her nether opening, and then Ryeka wound her hair up around one hand and tilted the Oni forward to provide better access, "What are you-OOOH!"

"Filthy I may be," Ryeka grinned hugely, "But I'm still gonna win our bet, so you'd better just get used to taking it in this way, 'Cause I've been wanting to do this to you for a very long time!"

Atari did not immediately answer as she was too surprised at finding something very big and hard do up into her rectum, filling her to capacity there as it was too "well greased" to offer much resistance to her inner lining. Her sphincter muscles reflexively contracted over the huge piece of rubber, and then the slightest movement of Ryeka's hips caused Atari to gasp and lean further forward, having to brace her arms by placing her hands on Rinse's bosoms. Furthermore, the slight current her body was generating on the surface rolled over the shaft of Ryeka's false-cock and transmitted their vibrating sensations not only up Atari's spine but back along the less well grounded end that was buried in Ryeka's own pussy, linking them together in the currents that Atari was manifesting.

Rinse watched all of this occur as the slight electrical tension of Atari's hands caused her already hardened breasts to swell anew, completing a circuit in which her body was the primary conductor. Fortunately the low level current did not actually hurt her at all, and in fact increased the pleasure that she was experiencing from the grinding that was still going on in her pussy. With Ryeka's passion-filled face looming over the shoulder of the gasping Oni Princess, it was as if both of her girlfriends were riding her at once, which somehow made Rinse's excitement triple as she neared the brink of yet another orgasm, this one even more explosive than the last. Her leg muscles tensed as her bare feet curled over the stirrups, and her skin became flush with mottling and perspiration as her inner muscles clenched around the electrified shaft that was stimulating her to fulfillment.

Her one fervent prayer before losing all conscious awareness of anything but the delicious sensation of the moment was that Atari would not release one of her Mega-jolt electrical waves at the moment of her climax. Even though she wasn't grounded to the floor like Atari, the last thing Rinse wanted to do in this world was go out feeling like a deep-fried piece of chicken. As accustomed as she was to Atari's lightning, she had no desire to test her limits by winding up with her purple locks set in a permanent Afro!

Of course as this ironic thought passed through her mind, it brought with it an equally surprised sense of wonder as Rinse tried to sort out why that last thought had reminded her so much of Tachi...?

"...It was only a few summers back, when we were fourteen and one of her father's periodic Training Missions," Tachi mused as she lay back on the bed staring up at the wooden ceiling, while Price stroked a lazy hand over the surface of her nude body, "There was nothing unusual about us going off for a week in the woods together...we'd been doing it all of our lives whenever Uncle Ranma wanted to show us something or Rinse's Great-Great-Grandmother wanted to impart on us somehow bit of Amazon Lore that was supposed to turn us into great fighters. I used to enjoy going on those things with Rinse and the others, it was like a big family outing, like camping in he woods and roughing it for a while. Father didn't always approve, but he has his own issues with Uncle Ranma, while I always looked up to Rinse's Dad and in some ways encouraged Rinse-chan to be more like him."

"You looked up to her, didn't you?" Price asked as she traced the smooth lines broken by slight bumps that dotted Tachi's otherwise smooth belly."

"Of course," Tachi replied, "She was my hero...still is, in fact, though I try at times to tease and prod her into doing things that she might not think about doing for herself. Both of her parents are such passionate people, they could use a little common sense guiding them, the way I try to help out Rinse-chan, but everybody knows that she's the best fighter of our generation. I'm good, of course, but she's unbeatable, something I've always admired in her, like her willingness to prevail no matter what the odds are against us."

"She does sound like a champion," Price mused, "No wonder you care so much about her."

"Yeah...well..." Tachi shifted uncomfortably with the memory but did nothing to impede Price's hand when it found the moistened opening of her silky brown muff, "We've been best friends as long as either of us can remember, but that summer brought about a change in our relationship...or at least in the way I've thought about her ever since. It was a pretty awkward time for both of us...you know what it's like when you're fourteen and you've never even seriously dated, let alone had a boyfriend?"

"No," Price answered, "But then again, I didn't exactly have a 'normal' childhood."

"Uh..." Tachi thought on that a moment then said, "Okay...well...for most kids our age it's a time of great uncertainty when you really don't know what you want to do with your lives, let alone who you want to wind up living with for the rest of your life. It's easy to get turned around back then, to not know which end is up or down and even which sex you prefer, since pretty much everything seems the same, until you meet that certain someone that just clicks for you. Do you follow me so far?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Price answered.

"Well..." Tachi started to make out patterns in the wood above her, the way some people might do with cloud formations, "Back then I started to develop feelings for Brand, a 'sort-of' cousin since he's the son of my adopted Aunt Kurumi. He's very tall and good looking for his age, rather like his father, and a bit clueless, but very smart where it really counts. He hangs out a lot with Ryoukio, Rinse's iinazuke, who's the son of Uncle Ryoga, who's sort-of like a brother to Uncle Ranma, which makes him sort-of a cousin (though the parents are pretty mum about the details, only saying something about Ryoukio's grandmother being part Oni)..."

"Right," Price cut her short on her attempt at a pedigree, "You both were engaged to your respective boyfriends at the exact same time, correct?"

"Just yesterday, as a matter of fact," Tachi sighed, "I guess I made no real secret about my feelings towards Brand, so in a way our parents must have thought that they were doing us a favor. His mother is Aunt Ukyo-by the way-  
who's about as cool as adults get where we hail from, and she's always fun to be around since she gives us kids free 'samples' of Okonomiyaki. I started noticing Brand about the time we were thirteen but I was just too shy back then to admit it even to myself since he's about a year younger than I am. Rinse and the others were pretty to quick to catch on to my crush, though, since I acted different around him than I did when it was just us girls in the picture, and one night the subject came up during our training mission when we were settling down in our tents and about to get some shut eye. In case you don't already know this, girls tend to talk about all sorts of intimate things before turning in..."

"Oh yes," Price chuckled, "I do, as a matter of course, know this since I have so many sisters that I often spend my nights with."

Tachi smiled at that, "I guess you do at that. Okay then...so you know how girls can kid each other about the silliest things, and right then I was being the target of conversation for the occasion. Since I was usually the one making sly and cunning commentary about others, the others were only too happy to return the favor...and let me tell you, being on the receiving end of teasing is not as much fun as being the teaser."

"I do have some slight knowledge on this subject," Price remarked, Pray continue."

"Well," Tachi sighed, "The teasing went beyond my feelings for Brand to the question of my experience with men in general, and I quipped back that it didn't have to be just about men, knowing full well that Ryeka had a crush on Rinse and didn't want to admit to it. Naturally my cousin was only barely aware that Ryeka had any special feelings for her, so she didn't pick up on the clue when Ryeka got all hesitant and tongue-tied. Yinra, Rinse's half-sister, took my cue and joined in on the oblique teasing, and don't ask me how it worked out that way, but before I knew it we were playing a game of 'Dare' in which we each taunted each other to reveal some hidden secret about ourselves. It was because of this that the moment happened."

"Moment?" Price leaned forward to nuzzle Tachi's ear, "What moment is that?"

"The moment..." Tachi took a deep breath and released it, "When we dared each other to take our clothes off and masturbate in front of each other. It's one of those silly things kids sometimes do on a bet, and Yin-chan showed more sense than the rest of us by bailing out about that point, leaving the four of us who remained to start individually stripping down to play with ourselves while the rest of us watched one another."

"Four of you?" Price asked, "Was that Atari girl with you at the time?"

"No," Tachi replied, "Her involvement with Rinse started a year later. The fourth girl who was with us was my cousin, Ivory, whom I don't always get along with too well. She, of course, had the fewest inhibitions about taking her clothes off and masturbating, though Ryeka came a good deal closer about it than Rinse and I did. The thing for me...the real revelation, was just how nervous I was stripping naked in front of the others, and it only took a few minutes for me to realize that it was Rinse I was the most nervous about being seen that way. Funny, huh? Like it was the first time that we'd seen each other naked."

"But this time was different," Price surmised, and Tachi nodded in confirmation.

"This time it had a sexual component, and I was fingering myself in front of her," Tachi felt her face flush slightly warmer at the memory, "Just like she was doing in front of me, and it was about that point where I realized that I was getting turned on about seeing her that way, and about her seeing me like this. It's like up until that moment we hadn't even been aware of each other in a sexual context, only now I was very much aware of her, and it made me cum a lot faster than I might have otherwise. I didn't just cum either...I exploded! I fell over with shock at how violently I'd climaxed when all my previous attempts at masturbating had been like gentle rain on a spring morning. It was then that I knew that Rinse-chan was the one who made all of the difference."

"So what happened then?" Price asked, "Did you make out with her?"

"I wish," Tachi sighed, "Ryeka beat me to the punch. She never was one to pass up on an opportunity like that, something else that I've always admired about her. Rinse-for once-wasn't in a mood to be shy and retiring around her, and so I sat back and watched the two of them make out, which I'm pretty sure was the first time for either one of them. Ivory and I just sat back and entertained ourselves with what was happening within arms reach, but rather than join in we snuck out of the tent by mutual consent and took a long cold bath in the nearby river."

"I'm surprised you didn't do it with her," Price remarked, "Your cousin, that is, even if she isn't normally someone you get along with."

"You make out even with people who get on your nerves all of the time?" Tachi asked.

"It's the best way to maintain peace and harmony among the Miroku," Price explained, "The term we employ around here is, 'Don't get mad, get even.' We make love in all forms, including the kind where you settle your rivalries in a constructive and mutually consensual game that takes away your frustrations and helps to arrive at a level of agreement in a beneficial manner that doesn't involve a lot of property damage."

"Do tell," Tachi asked, "How does it work?"

Price began to play with Tachi's breasts in a fairly offhanded way that gently stroked them back to full arousal, "Quite simple, actually. If your cousin ever gets out of line, don't hesitate to slap her into some manner of restraint where she will be unable to immediately retaliate. It works best if she is wearing next to nothing, of course...less bother having to remove any obstructing bit of clothing. Then you talk to her in a gentle, reasonable tone of voice and stress the advantages you have in terms of tactics. Once you make her understand that resistance is futile, you begin to take advantage of her helplessness in a slow and methodical way, being careful not to provoke genuine hostility or resentment on her part as that interferes with the program for seduction."

"Seduction?" Tachi replied, "Me seduce Ivory? You've got to be kidding!"

"Try it sometime," Price smiled as she leaned forward and began to paint gentle kisses on Tachi's breasts, "You may discover a dimension to your cousin that you never even dreamed existed. It might well make her more easy to manage..."

"Or I could be inviting more trouble than it's worth," Tachi leaned back and gasped as she felt her excitement level return to her previously heightened levels.

"Trust me on this," Price said between kisses, "Imagine this Ivory stripped naked before you and unable to resist you, and vulnerable to your lightest caress. Tell me that this image doesn't strike you as an opportune one."

Tachi did imagine it, rather more easily than she would have imagined that she could imagine it, no doubt a side-effect of whatever hormonal secretions Price released as natural body-pheromones that had made her agreeable to this in the first place...not that she needed much convincing now as four successive orgasms was adequate testimony to the other girl's sexual prowess.

"Okay," Tachi conceded, "So...maybe it isn't so hard to imagine..."

There came a polite knocking on the door, and without missing a stroke or showing the least alarm, Price called out, "Come in, Shiromitsu-kun. You're right on time, as usual."

The door opened and a handsome man whose silver hair was done up in a ponytail looked into the room and asked, "You wanted to see me, Imotochan?"

"Yes indeed," Price purred sensuously, "I thought our friend here might like a little diversion from our one-on-one repertoire, and you're just the stud I had in mind to give her some male-to-female experience...if that is at all agreeable to you, Sister?"

Tachi stared at the youth whom she identified as a Kuonji by his Bishonen features, and then in a hesitant voice she said, "You mean...him and me? And you?"

"That is what I was hoping to negotiate," Price smiled, "Is this agreeable to you, or are you female exclusive?"

"Ah...no...I go both ways," Tachi tried to clear her throat and failed in the act of trying not to look or sound nervous, "Captain of the Tennis League and all of that...as well as the Kendo club and the Young Entrepreneur's association..."

Shiromitsu took a good look at Tachi and closed the door behind him, but showed just a hint of reluctance on his face as he said, "Are you sure this is what she wants, Price-chan? I wouldn't want to impose..."

"But you can be so imposing when you want to be, brother dearest," Price smiled invitingly, "Unless you have anything better that you might want to be doing at the moment? It is her first time, after all, and I think it's only fair to give our poor benighted sister a taste of what both sexes can be like before her parents cruelly condemn her to an arranged marriage."

"Ah, well," Tachi continued to hesitate, even though she was intrigued by the handsome body before her, "Actually, I'm not all that adverse to being engaged to Brand, even if he is a bit slow upstairs and tends to get lost in a closet..."

"Sounds suspiciously like Tsuyosa," Shiromitsu remarked, then shrugged and started to take off his robe, "Well, I was going to go help Mother balance the ledgers for tonight, but if-as you say-this is her first time, I suppose it would be rude of me to pass up the chance to give her the experience she craves, if you are agreeable to this, that is."

"Ah, well I..." Tachi's mouth hung open as she got a good hard look at the young man's body when he was fully naked before her, the hard muscles and fine lines of smooth definition that gave him the look of something sculpted, like fine porcelain, with an appropriately sized "handle" protruding from between his legs and...

"I...uh...think I could work you into my busy schedule," Tachi swallowed, "Are you really good at business?"

"One of my specialties," the young man replied as he approached the bed, "I can balance up to nine figures in my head, which is one decimal short of Price-  
chan's best score in Accounting and Mathematics."

Tachi looked up at the boy as he stared to lean over her, then reached out to place a hand on his well-muscled chest and leered, "Think you could talk business to me while we do it? I really get turned on at the thought of a good return on investment."

He seemed only mildly surprised by the request and glanced at Price as he said, "She's your sister, no question about it."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Price replied, "Two for the price of one...I'd call that a bargain, wouldn't you, sister?"

In reply Tachi spread her legs wide and leered as she cooed softly, "Now...tell me all about the size of your portfolio, and just how big are your...assets and investments..."

"A woman after my own heart," Shiromitsu replied as he obliged her by rubbing his manhood along her already moistened cleft, "In a manner of speaking."

Indeed, Tachi mused to herself, the balance sheet for this night was already showing a considerable profit...

Tinkerbell cried out as she felt her body clench like a fist as Thorn all but impaled her with her tongue, which was already deeper than a human tongue had any right to travel. Her cries were muffled as Rose was smothering her with one firm breast, which same Tinkerbell was trying to suckle while her own breasts were stroked and fondled by Rose's dexterous fingers. The two-pronged attack sent her over the edge once again as her body shook and crashed with another orgasm, one that made Tinkerbell reached out for the frame of the bed in order to steady herself as it was almost too much to bear in the wake of her previous climaxes. The two sisters were relentless in their double-teamed lovemaking, though, so it was all Tinkerbell could do to hold on as her mind became a whirl with magical pinwheels, sparks and kaleidoscopic sensations.

It was without a doubt the most world-shaking moment of her life when she had submitted herself to the tender mercies of these two Miroku sisters, each of whom reminded her so powerfully of another that it was almost like being made love to twice by the same person! Tinkerbell was in heaven-in a manner of speaking-experiencing the dream-like wonder of it all for its very tangible reality and the unmistakable way that these two could make her body sing like an organ. No matter where she turned one or both girls was there doing something new and tantalizing that made Tink's world literally sparkle as she tended to give off a golden radiance every time that she climaxed, a sparkly effect that neither Rose nor Thorn had seemed to notice the first two times, but on the third such occasion they had paused to comment on how beautiful this effect was, and how Tinkerbell's body itself seemed to glow with an inner radiance.

The hungry slurping sounds Thorn made while eating out Tinkerbell's thighs was like music in her pointy ears as she felt herself warming up to their ministrations for yet another world-shattering climax. "Magically Delicious" was how Rose had termed her when it was her turn to eat Tinkerbell out, a compliment Tinkerbell herself had gotten to return when she tasted the tangy sweet thighs of the green-haired Thorn, a flavor that was oddly lime-tinged for all the slight saline flavoring that went with it, while Rose had turned out to have a somewhat more lemony flavor, both of which proved quite pleasing to Tinkerbell's palate and fired up her hunger to crave more of the same in the near future. Now Rose was demonstrating yet another odd Miroku talent that had taken Tinkerbell by surprise when first introduced, even granting that so much else about her two nocturnal partners that was wholly surprising.

The breast that she was suckling had milk in it! Rose was lactating, this in spite of her calm assurances that she had never given birth nor was she currently expecting. Somehow her training in the Miroku arts allowed her to generate breast milk independent of her fertility cycle...something she explained that she was only able to do about a month at a time, but which she relished doing with another girl as the act of being suckled for milk was powerfully stimulating and greatly enhanced her already hyper-stimulated sex drive.

Thorn had not yet mastered this technique herself, but she professed to enjoy suckling her sister on those times when Rose was in full lactation, a fact Tinkerbell had absolutely no doubt about as she was slowly going crazy with delight over the flavor. The dark haired girl was encouraging her with soft, mewing sounds of approval, and doing her this way made Tinkerbell feel like a babe in the arms of her mother (albeit she was getting "creamed" down below by an equally avaricious Thorn). She also much enjoyed the way that Rose was stimulating her breasts, making them feel so hard and supple beneath those gentle-yet-insistent hands as Rose transferred one breast over and offered Tinkerbell the other, which same Tink all too eagerly accepted.

For all the frenzy of their lovemaking, both girls were being quite gentle in their handling of her body, having learned early on just how sensitive Tinkerbell was, and how her overly developed senses made even the lightest caress seem like a manhandling sensation. These Miroku sisters were taking their time bringing her off with loving attention to every sensitive nerve in her body. There was not an inch of her tawny form that had not been kissed, licked, sucked and fondled, and Tinkerbell was grateful for their sensitivity and understanding, not to mention the incredibly cherished feeling it gave her of being appreciated as a sexual being, not to mention a woman!

That thought triggered another one that had been hovering in the back of her mind, and thoughts of Watazashi sprang to life unbidden. These girls were very much like her beloved best friend from her home dimension, a Watazashi she feared never having the chance to see again, someone whom she wanted to be with, to talk to, to confess the depths of her true feelings. She had been suffering alone from unrequited passion for far too long, and it almost hurt to think of how much she wanted to be with her Watazashi. These Miroku girls might be a close substitute, but she knew in her heart that they were not Watazashi, just close parallels who were doing their level best to drive Tinkerbell to distraction.

All at once Thorn's tongue curled deep and found the legendary Ginsue spot located in a woman's body, and that was all it took to send Tinkerbell reeling over the edge once again as her mind filled with the cresting stars of the heavens. All at once she cried out Watazashi's name, a cry muffled by Rose's left tit, which was firmly planted in her mouth, but as she started to shimmer with explosive resonance she accidentally shifted her own form out of synch with normal timespace, drawing her companions with her as they collectively went unsolid and sank through the bed, and then the floor beneath them, and kept right on going...

"Oh yes!" Watazashi grinned hugely as she rocked back and forth on her heels, sliding her double-edged strap-on dildo in and out of Yuan-Yen's well-  
lubricated fanny, using the "back-door" approach to ride her honey to yet another orgasm, "Now this is more like it!"

Yuan-Yen could not have agreed more, except that she was still in the pillory and that her mouth was presently occupied sucking off on Tenshin's cock as he paid close attention to this end of her, while Kimera stood to one side playing with Yuan-Yen's breasts and encouraging her to go another leg of the distance between yet another orgasm.

Kurenai was meanwhile sliding another flexible two-pronged dildo in and out of the helpless Bukotei, who was making quite an orchestra of sounds that signified how close she was to her own latest climax. Akira was meanwhile firmly up with his back against the wall while Tsuyori pressed her body up against him, his cock buried deep into her loins as she had one leg on the floor, the other lifted to brace herself against the wall while Kama-Sutra stood behind her playing with her bosoms and using the rest of her body to push her sister unto Akira.

Ranko was on the floor with Sakura and Silver, still in female form as Silver was trying to manage as best she could while Sakura tantalized her body in every way imaginable. Still the white haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma kept turning her eyes to a tantalizing pitcher of cold water that was now sitting almost within arms reach. She waited until Ranko managed to sufficiently distract the other silver-haired girl before getting up and making a dash for this, then splashing herself with half the contents of the pitcher, thus transforming herself into her handsome male aspect.

"Alright, Girly-girls," she leered, "Now comes round two! Hope you're ready!"

Whether or not Sakura even heard her while she had her face buried in Ranko's red muff was not easily determined, but when she heard Ranko gasp and felt something press against her loins she did start to notice things a bit. When Silver-kun entered her she instinctively spread her legs even wider and took him in all the way, reflexively tonguing Ranko's pussy so that the redhead was herself momentarily distracted, when Ranko had been inwardly comparing the size of her own cursed form to that of Silver.

"Just hold on a bit more, Yuan-dearest," Watazashi cooed, giving Yuan-Yen a playful slap on her rump that only elicited a muffled gasp from the grown haired girl, who seemed delighted to not only be getting it at both ends but to have Kimera suckling one of her bosoms in such a way that she indeed seemed very near to a climax.

But then some warning instinct made Watazashi aware of a motion directly above her head, and knowing better than to ignore such a sensation, she naturally looked up in time to see Tinkerbell manifesting in the space directly above her. There was only time enough for a mutual gasp and all at once she was knocked to the floor and straddled by the blonde-haired Pixie. Yuan-Yen made a muffled complaint at feeling Watazashi withdraw from her, but this was nothing compared to the twin yelps above their heads as Rose and Thorn managed to each grasp a beam for a handhold that prevented them from also crashing into the party.

"What the hell just happened?" Thorn asked, looking down at the sight of an attractive girl bent down in the pillory harness.

"Beats...fuck me!" Rose exclaimed as she took in the rest of the activities going on in the room.

Watazashi and Tinkerbell, meanwhile, were staring into each other's eyes with their faces only an inch or so away from one another. Tinkerbell felt her bosoms press against the equally firm bosoms of the girl who looked exactly like her own beloved Watazashi and for a moment she had an expression not unlike a deer caught in the headlight. And then she shook herself out of her daze and began to sit upright, saying, "Oh, I'm sorry-OOH!" she exclaimed as she inadvertently sat down on the upraised false cock.

Watazashi took only a moment to go from surprise to her own cunning smile as a new opportunity loomed before her, and with a grin she gripped Tinkerbell firmly by the hips and started rocking herself from side to side, working the dildo into Tink's pussy as she cooed softly, "So nice of you to drop in...no hard feelings about the landing?"

Sakura gave a wild yelp as she felt nine inches of hot sausage slide into her and out again with clear intent of sawing her down the middle. Ranko felt that yelp against her thighs and shivered slightly as she watched the male Silver-kun go down on the girl with his man-meat, thrusting with well-timed hip motions that made Sakura's legs wave in the air while she raised her hips to give him a better avenue while he grinned and gave her a ride to be remembered.

"You like that?" Silver-kun said huskily, "You want more? You're gonna get more, bitch, and I'm the guy who's gonna make you see cross-eyed!"

"Bitch?" Ranko was taken aback by the crude expletive, but another moment later she felt Sakura's tongue probe even deeper inside her and wiggle a bit until she managed to find the redhead's innermost pleasure center. She climaxed almost instantly, feeling her loins convulse as hot jism was splashed over Sakura's face and mouth, which encouraged the girl to hungrily devour as much cum as she could savor. Meanwhile Sakura's body responded in kind with a visible climax that caused her legs to flex like a "V" for Victory sign, a fact not lost on Silver, who had a smug expression as though such a thing were only to be expected.

"Not bad, Beautiful," Silver smiled, only to turn a glance over her shoulder as she heard Akira moaning as though he were himself near to a climax, "Don't go away...I'll be right back. I got a little business to attend to, but why don't you keep her motor running for a bit, Sis?"

With that Silver-kun took the remaining contents of the pitcher and poured them over Ranko's head, triggering his own transformation. Silver-kun then got up and left the surprised Ranko-kun and disappointed Sakura where they were as she sought out the two girls molesting Akira with a look of determination in his face that was an open promise of impending sexual mayhem.

Akira was close to his first true orgasm as Tsuyori rode him effectively to a point of near climax. Rather than bring him right off, though, she seemed to be prolonging the moment, deliberately holding him to the edge so that he could do nothing but hang on for dear life while his manhood ground in and out of her ever-so-slowly. Tsuyori's pelvic motions held him trapped where he was while Kama-Sutra continued to play with her sister from behind, enjoying the sensual feel of the sandwich that the other girl was in the middle of. It was all going quite well and the handsome young man was like putty in the arms of the Miroku.

Of course Kama-Sutra was surprised when a firm set of hands went around her waist and a voice cooed into her ear, "You guys like double-teaming people? 'Cause if that's the case, then I'll be more than happy to return the flavor."

"Oh?" Kama asked as she turned to see the handsome boy who was fondling her so intimately, her interest at once piqued as she saw his manly profile and studied his smooth, taunt lines, then her eyes widened slightly with hunger as she caught sight of his erect manhood.

Silver-kun very calmly set her to one side and said, "Wait here Beautiful, I'll get to you in a minute. First I want to make some points with your flexible sister."

Kama was both puzzled and slightly disappointed, but her curiosity won out as she decided to stand by and watch the fun as the strange boy came up behind Tsuyori, who only mildly seemed aware of Kama's absence.

Akira kept his hands firmly on Tsuyori's breasts as she continued to grind herself against his pelvis her hips making each motion like a warm tug on his stiffening manhood. She was sliding up and down on his rod, taking her time in prolonging the act, and so intent on what she was doing that when hands went around her body she momentarily assumed it was just Kama resuming the act of fondling her. It was while she was on a downstroke, fully buried on his shaft, that she suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder. He wondered what that feeling was down below, as if Kama were about to insert a dildo in her anal entrance, and then past her shoulder she saw the handsome man gripping her firmly as he pressed himself against her.

Akira saw this too as the familiar form of Silver-kun appear from behind her and over her shoulder. For a moment he was at a loss for words, then he saw her wink at him in a telltale manner that bore that cocky Saotome expression that some men (other than himself, of course) often found quite annoying.

"Hey, Akira," Silver-Kun said, planting his hands on Tsuyori's hips and grinning mischievously from behind her now gasping form. "It looked like you were having a lot of fun with fan-girl here, so I decided to try her out for myself."

Akira was surprised to find himself get angry at the idea that Silver-kun was going to take this brown haired girl away from him, when he realized that instead of lifting up, Silver-kun was using his hands to grip her hips while he pushed forward into Tsuyori, whose eyes were now widening in surprise, though she was also giving off a low moan as well. It took another second to figure out why, as he felt the inside of Tsuyori's pussy shift subtly, her other nearby hole suddenly became filled as well.

"Silver, don't. You might hurt her," Akira protested.

"Are you kidding?" Shikari said as she suddenly appeared next to Akira's head. "Tsu-chan loves getting it in both holes, isn't that right, Sis?"

"Yes," Tsuyori hissed, gritting her teeth as she relaxed her anus in an effort to accommodate her new partner's huge member. She had indeed been in similar situations before during training, though Silver-kun was a bit bigger than anything that had gone into Tsuyori's rear passage in quite a while. Still, such challenges were what her training was all about, it was just a bonus that the challenges were so pleasurable.

"Damn, it's tight," Silver-Kun said as he slowly rocked his hips back and forth, taking his time as he penetrated further and further with each thrust. What jealousy Silver-kun had felt at Akira's partner dissolved as he found himself now sharing in the experience, and he wanted Tsuyori to enjoy it as well.

Kama Sutra gazed lustfully at the scene, imagining what it must have felt like for her half sister to be penetrated so thoroughly. "After she gets off, I'm next."

"Then me," Sakura cooed, having by now fully recovered and wanting in on the action with Silver-kun again. And after she got him off again (at least Sakura hoped she would be the one), she was going to get a little hot water and, after a little splash, was going to give Silver-chan back a little of what she gave as a man.

Ranko-kun watched her half-sisters getting into the action and then shrugged her shoulder and decided not to be a hold out. He sauntered up alongside Kama and Sakura and laid a firm hand on both of their hips, then murmured softly, "If you girls don't want to wait around, you could warm yourselves up with me a bit more. I've never done it as a guy myself, and I was hoping somebody here might like to give me some home instruction."

"Never done it as a man before?" Kama asked in surprise, exchanging knowing smirks with Sakura.

"You poor thing," Sakura cooed solicitously, "By all means let us help you out. Virginity is such a tawdry word around here, and no fun on Saturday nights."

"To say nothing of the rest of the week, " Kama leered with a hungry expression.

Ranko-kun started to wonder if maybe he had bit off more than he could chew, but Saotome pride would not let her back down at this point, so he submitted himself to the two Miroku girls and entrusted his body into their care as they went about the serious business of slowly and systematically screwing his brains out.

"Oh dear," Thorn commented to Rose as the two of them stood off to one side and watched as Tinkerbell bounced up and down on Watazashi's false cock, "Those two sound like they're really into it."

"I know," Rose agreed in mutual disappointment, "I don't think we'd be able to separate them with a jackhammer right about now, and I doubt either one of them wants to be distracted at the moment."

"True," Thorn agreed, only to seemingly "just-then" take notice of the bare bottom of Yuan-Yen, "A pity about her friend, though..."

"Indeed," Rose sympathized, "Coitus Interruptus isn't something to wish upon an enemy, let alone a sister."

"Especially a sister who looks so much like Price," Thorn grinned as she looked towards Rose.

"I quite agree," Rose shared her leer, "Exactly like Price from this angle, and you know what she always says about never letting an opportunity slip past us."

"Absolutely," Thorn's smile turned especially wicket, "All the times I've wanted to do this to her, and this poor girl so desperately in need of loving attention..."

"It would only be our duty as sisters to help bring her off," Rose agreed, "It's the least that would be demanded of us out of Miroku hospitality."

"I couldn't have put it better myself," Thorn declared, then turned to the wall-  
rack of devices and mused, "Now...what to begin with? Something that should make her day a little brighter."

"Even though it is technically at night," Rose agreed, giving Yuan-Yen a playful slap on her rump that elicited a muffled sound from Yuan-Yen, who had heard every word of these exchanges and was in no ways reassured about her prospects.

To bat that was about the point when Tenshin came in her mouth, forcing Yuan-Yen to hastily swallow the jism that shot down her throat rather than risk gagging on the thick, hot fluid. She reflexively sucked on his cock to stabilize herself a bit more while Kimera continued to play with both of her bosoms.

Tinkerbell was ecstatic as she felt the sensations building up inside her, only vaguely aware that Watazashi was experiencing very similar sensations in her own body as both ends of the double-dildo brought them closer to a psychic connection. Their hands were gripping each other's bosoms for more than just stability as Watazashi sensed how delicate and fragile the other girl's perceptions were and adjusted her fondling motions accordingly. Tinkerbell was a bit rougher with her own bosoms, but Watazashi liked having it be done rough to her person. She was savoring the radiant beauty of the Pixie girl's face and admiring the way her body seemed to shimmer and tinkle with bell-like sounds that matched the pealing noises of her cute gasps, groans, grunts and cries of passion.

Tsuyori was no longer gently riding Akira but rather bucking violently like a girl being double-mounted. Having both nether orifices filled this way was proving to be a tremendous turn-on and she was determined to savor the moment while Silver-kun pumped her from the rear and Akira rode her from the front end.

Akira was amazed at how excited he was to be sharing a woman with the male form of Silver. He had never even imagined doing this with her in his own private fantasies, yet the altogether desirable girl that they were sandwiching made it easy to share her as a kind of bonding sensation that redefined their lifelong friendship. He did not know why he had always felt a kind of protective instinct around Silver, knowing how much trouble she could get into and how good she was at looking after herself in a crisis. The girl-now boy-just had a way of tempting the fates and risking the wrath of the Kami, which meant that someone had to always look out for her best interests, a task he often found himself volunteering for without the least clue why he should do so. Seeing her-er-him impale a girl from the rear was an incredible turn-on that Akira was at a loss to explain, knowing only that he was enjoying this moment far more than he would ever have imagined doing with another woman in the equation.

Silver-kun was enjoying herself far more than he could ever have imagined, taking the girl from the rear and relishing the sense of power that this gave him over her, as much as the girl's obvious approval of his cock puffed up Silver-kun's pride and made him feel all that much more "manly." He was going to make this Tsuyori come like the brood mare that she was and leave her gasping for more when it was over. It was only a matter of time before she yielded to his gentle persuasion, and then he was going to make another conquest...one far less disturbing than his time with Gel-chan.

Ranko-kun was on the floor being straddled by two other girls who seemed to know their business a lot more than he did! It was an amazing sensation to have Kama Sutra mount him and somehow hold herself in a strangely gymnastic position while Sakura rubbed her pussy in Ranko-kun's face, but by steady measure they were giving him nothing to complain about and quite a lot for which to approve. He was content to let them conduct things as they went about the act of methodically ravishing his manhood and savaging his face with hot pussy. Sakura's warm thighs muffled the low groan that escaped him even as Kama did something with her vulva that created a sucking sensation on his cock. Ranko was not of a mind to ask questions as these girls rode him out and made him slowly achieve the first male climax of his young existence.

Yuan-Yen was doing considerable groaning as Thorn had a "butt-plug" shoved up into her anus while a vibrating cock was mounted in her pussy. Yuan-Yen groaned helplessly as Rose whacked her bottom with studded leather paddle, while Thorn teased her clitoris and Kimera continued suckling her as if expecting Yuan-Yen's breasts to give milk like a pair of udders. Tenshin was off in the corner recovering his strength by massaging his cock as he smiled and contemplated which girl would be the next recipient of his manhood.

Elsewhere in the complex Tachi was on all fours getting it good and deep from Shiromitsu, her face buried between the honeyed thighs of Price, who was urging her on by reciting tales of profit share and market investments that were showing good returns on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Kinko was no longer on the bottom of the sex-pyramid but was now fully engrossed in a daisy chain with the girls lined up in a circle with each one doing the other and no-holds barred, while she herself was the recipient of her first-  
male-to-female sexual coupling. She'd lied a bit about her age (claiming to be fifteen rather than her actual fourteen) so as not to get these girls into trouble while convincing Tsuyosa that she was a bedable partner. She was as yet undecided whether she liked cock or pussy better, but then again she was enjoying everything that was tried on her and with her wings spread wide she gloriously gave herself in to a massive orgasm!

At the same precise moment the pendant on Ranko-kun's breast started to glow softly, a fact not noticed by him as he had his face now buried deep between Sakura's moon-like breasts while Kama Sutra continued to ride him, while Tsuyori cried out, unable to take it any more as the need to cum had become overwhelming, a fact shared in tandem by both Akira and Silver-kun.

Yuan-Yen climaxed as Thorn's tongue speared her clitoris, while Tinkerbell cried out like the bells of Notre Dame even as Watazashi climaxed, feeling her end of the dildo quiver within her.

Meanwhile Rinse was gasping as she felt the biggest explosion to date overtake her, a fate made all the worse as Atari was climaxing with Ryeka's false cock buried inside her, a wave like an EMR pulse emanating out from the green haired girl as the three of them felt an electrified orgasm.

Kitten, Bonbori and Shikari were all knocked backward by the discharge, stunned for a moment as the explosion had been totally unexpected. No less unexpected was when the ringing in their ears finally subsided and their vision worked once again, only to have all three Miroku girls gasp in unison at the amazing discovery that their three nominal guests had utterly vanished.

"What the Hell?" Bonbori was first to exclaim.

"They're gone," Shikari stared at the now-empty stirrups that had formerly imprisoned Rinse's feet.

"Gone?" Kitten wailed, "They can't be gone! We haven't even had a chance to screw them yet!"

"It must have been that transition thingie they were talking about before," Bonbori noted, "They must have faded out in mid-climax."

"But what are we gonna do now?" Kitten groaned, "I wanted to get my own licks in! It's not fair! I wanted my turn with those lookers!"

"I guess we're going to have to go without," Shikari said with a very mournful and resigned expression.

"No way!" Bonbori protested, "I'm so worked up right now I could screw an army of Shikima..."

"What's going on here?" asked their brother Wulf as he came rushing into the room with a much-concerned expression, "I was watching a Holovid when half the electricity in the place shorted out! You guys know anything about this?"

All three sisters turned matching expressions in his direction, and Shikari smiled to herself, "On the other hand...we could always improvise."

"Uh..." Wulf noted the telltale signs of lust on the expressions of his sisters and had a sudden epiphany that warned him that his Vid program was unlikely to be watched for the remainder of the evening.

Price gasped as Tachi faded from view as though becoming a ghost before her eyes, and then Shiromitsu toppled forward and landed on top of her, giving her an equally surprised expression.

"What the hell just happened?" he gasped as his cock slide against her belly.

"I guess she decided to cash out," Price mused, then with a sigh said, "Oh well...might as well make the best of things..."

Her legs hooked around her body and Shiromitsu suddenly found himself being drawn into a kiss while his stiffening manhood made contact with her moist pussy.

"What the?" Sakura fumbled as the guy beneath her ceased to hold her above the level of the carpet.

"Good question," Rose remarked as she stared at the empty harness, exchanging puzzled looks with Thorn and Kimera, then turned to an equally blank-faced Tenshin.

"They're gone!" Thorn cried, scanning the rest of the room, which was notably absent a few sexual partners, "What gives?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Tenshin looked around, "Where are Kama and Tsuyori?"

"That's what I want to know," Sakura hit her fist on the floor, "It isn't fair! It was going to be my turn next!

Tsuyosa found no resistance when he made yet another pumping thrust with his cock, and in surprise he toppled forward, his face landing on top of the rump of a gasping Bracelet, who turned an annoyed look at him and asked, "Do you mind...HEY! Where is Kinko-chan?"

A collective string of "HUH?" filled the room as the other sex-partners in their daisy chain became aware that they were missing a link with hardly a feather to show for her passing.

Elsewhere in the compound Ranma turned to his fellow adults and said, "You guys just feel something?"

"Kind of," Ukyo frowned, "It was like...a wave of some kind sweeping over everything in its path."

"Is this something we should be concerned about?" Dan asked as he turned to regard his fellow senior Miroku and Suzuka clanmates, "It might have been a mistake to leave the children alone..."

"Now then," Miko chided her husband, "We all agreed to let the children have fun by themselves. It's not exactly as if they're not old enough to handle their own share of problems."

"I don't know about that," Akane mused, "Remember what we were like when we were their age?"

"Dark Gods below," Ranmaru rolled his eyes, "I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up. I'm still trying to live down my part in things..."

"So why don't you lay down and continue what you were doing, Brother-dearest?" Botsasu smiled from underneath him.

"I guess that does make sense in a way," Nabiki noted, "After all, we trained them as best we could to deal with unusual happenings. The way I figure it they'll solve their own problems and we won't have to hear about it until the morning."

"I like the way you think, Nabiki-honey," Fubuki grinned as she stroked the other woman's pussy.

"I think we should wait and see if there is any trouble before we go rushing into things," Shampoo reasoned, "If we jump in before they ask us for help it might be taken as a sign that we don't have confidence in their abilities. If they do come to us for advice, it means the problem is probably too much for us to deal with until the morning."

"I suppose you are right," Kasumi mused, "But just in case I think I will go check on how everything is. At the very least the younger children might need some attention."

"Good thinking," Yaku mused, "Give us a yelp if anything with more than four limbs tries to surprise you."

"Oh yeah," Miyu grinned, "I could use a bit of that action might right about now..."

"In the meantime," Kodachi said in mild annoyance, "Might I suggest that we resume with what we were doing before we were so rudely interrupted?"

"I'm with you on that, 'Dachi," Ranma turned to the rest of the occupants of the room, "All of favor to getting back to this practice session, say Aye!"

The Ayes, quite naturally, carried the day, and so the orgy resumed, while the children of the Miroku started to take stock of their missing members and give silent prayers for their safe return, if only so that they could extract some satisfaction over making the rest of them worry...!

Continued in "Realities Squared Chapter 11."

Comments/Criticism/Cumming by the Bucket: shadowmane

And so the saga continues with the gang heading to parts elsewhere (minus the majority of their personal belongings). Is this the start of a beautiful friendship or one massive Cock-Up in the making? Stay tuned for more Hentai action in the making...and by all means keep your fingers crossed that girls like Sakura will get another "crack" at our lovely timelost Warband. Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	13. Chapter 13

RanSquares11

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others, and featuring characters and situations created by Toshio Maeda,  
and my fellow fanfic writers Nicole Manders (Dreiser),  
Greg Sharp and D.B. Sommers)

Chapter Eleven.

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo -17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921

Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921

Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921

Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921

Ranma Saotome-38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.

Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.

Nabiki Tendo-38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

The Lord of Chaos was ancient beyond measure, an entity whose very nature was a violation of the world's order, and whose powers were far beyond the limits of time, space and flesh to which it had been imprisoned for a mortal generation. It did not even recall the very humanity that once had been the lot of its present flesh containment, nor did it care for petty moral or ethical considerations. It only knew itself and its purpose, which was to kill, and it had been in the service of the Shogun since it's summoning to the flesh nearly twenty years ago. It was content to do his bidding, and it was very good at being used as an object of terror and intimidation.

It did not know hunger or rest, it only went dormant when it was not needed, and awoke to life whenever it was summoned to kill. Though possessed of a low animal intelligence and cunning, it was primarily an engine of mass destruction forged for one purpose only, which was to spread pain, fear and agony wherever it should travel. The only time it fed was when it sensed the presence of nubile female flesh that it could ravish, for it was possessed of something like a sex drive, though it employed this appetite for purposes of carnal debauchery and slaughter, not for the bringing of new life into the world. It knew not what love was, nor pity and remorse, and it was utterly relentless in its purpose, which now was being turned to the defense of its Shogun, to the annihilation of those petty mortal fools who would dare tempt the wrath of this destructor.

When it had received the recall summons it had been busily ravaging yet another pathetic army of mortal rebels who had dared tempt the Shogun's wrath, and though the Americans had fought valiantly, they had perished just the same, hopelessly outclassed as the puny weapons in their arsenal had been no match for his power. It had been a mere game for him, nothing more, and he had felt no great urgency to rush the process, the Shogun wanting their suffering to last so that the memory of this slaughter would be in the terrified breasts of their countrymen for another generation.

But on the eve of its triumph, when yet another tasty wench had cowered in helplessness before him, the summons had come, and with an urgency that could not be denied. The Lord of Chaos had literally rushed from the scene, going sub-orbital within a minute of the summons, and yet still this had not been fast enough for the Shogun's liking, so he opened a portal and brought the Lord across to Japan within an instant, and now the Lord was poised outside the home islands, near the wreckage of what had once been old Tokyo, rushing in at hypersonic speeds to attend to the needs of his master, filled with the urgency to crush this new source of opposition, and sensing the power emanating from the Shogun's lair...a power that dared to threaten his master, for which the Lord would not forgive, let alone tolerate.

And yet something of this power almost stirred a dormant memory...a familiarity that brought with it a kind of lingering hatred. This power was of a source that Lord had known long ago, much reviled and despised of the mortal shell the Lord inhabited. The Lord did not know what this meant, but as he was never given to thoughts of introspection, he only knew that the lust to kill would be all the more strong within him as it closed the distance between him and his detested objective...

And-unknowing of this impending danger-the target of the Lord's wrath was staring at a distorted reflection of his own face and remarking, "I don't believe it."

"That makes two of us," his reflection replied in the same gruff voice, "Ain't life a kick?"

The man stood in a care-worn sleeveless Mao Suit and had Ranma's weathered features, only he also sported what looked to be a set of whiskers on his face, and his hair had a frizzy quality, not done up in the old-style pigtail that Ranma had used to sport. His arms were muscular and scarred as if from many battles, and there was something about his eyes that did not look entirely human.

The girl beside him did look somewhat more human, but her close-cropped green hair and scanty dress gave her a somewhat sleazy look as though she were a part-  
time hooker. She was leaning on Ranma's shoulder with a familiar ease that the man seemed to take entirely for granted, and yet there was something about her that strongly suggested that she was more than she seemed and quite capable of holding her own in an encounter.

"Oh my," Nabiki murmured as she passed her scanner in the direction of the man and his equally astonishing companion, then read the findings and said, "His scan matches yours Ranma-kun, only his DNA pattern had been mutated in some way...I'm getting strong readings of a hybrid recombination..."

"That's the technical side of it," the newcomer replied, "I'm Saotome Ranma, and I guess the same goes for you. You're obviously not from around here, which is why me and the Misses thought we'd have this little chat, seeing as you've obviously come to cause the Shogun some trouble."

"Yeah?" Ranma tightened his fists, "What of it?"

The other Ranma just smiled and said, "Trouble's my middle name, and I want in on your action. Seeing as I'm the local boy on this scene I thought maybe you could use a few pointers."

"That might indeed be true," said Ekko as she studied the one man, then the other, "Incredible...two parallel versions of the same template, only one's internal reconstruction differs greatly from the course of the other."

"Mind running that one by us in Japanese?" Lylac said, also glancing at both men, "Two Father Ranma's for the price of one?"

"Egad," Ryoga murmured, "Ranma in stereo! If this had happened twenty years ago I think I would have gone mad."

"That makes two of us, Ryo-kun," Nabiki murmured.

The man they saw before them smiled in their direction and said, "How's it going, Nabiki? You and Ryoga an item here? I think I'm also gonna need a scorecard. Oh, by the way, the lovely lady you see beside me is my wife, Megumi. Say hello to the newbies, Megumi-chan."

The girl with the close-cropped light-green hair struck a cutesy pose and waved at the new arrivals, winking at the other Ranma and causing Nabiki to unconsciously tighten her grip on her portable scanner. In a pleasantly toned voice she said, "Nice to see you people alive again. Never thought we'd meet any more of the old heroes after the last batch bought it in this very room."

"Your...wife?" Ranma asked, taking in the girl before sensing the tension radiating from Nabiki, "Ah...mind running that one by me again?"

"No time for a history lesson, Bub," Ranma replied, "You want to make things unpleasant for the Shogun? Then I'm with you. After seeing the way you handled yourself with Vegita and his goons, I think you might just be what the doctor ordered."

"The Shogun is nearing the completion of plans he set in motion twenty years ago," Megumi added, "And so far we've been helpless to prevent him from what he started on the day of the Ascension. If we're going to do something about it, we're going to have to act now, which means if you intend to reconstruct this device, then we're game to contribute our part in whatever it takes to get the job done."

"But how do we know that we can trust you?" asked Tenko, "This sudden appearance at the eleventh hour is somewhat suspiciously convenient."

"Convenient," the other Ranma sniffed, "Nothing convenient about it. Let's just way we owe it to the world to do our fair share and make things right again. This whole mess is as much our fault as it is Gosunkugi's, and now it's time to make up for that failure."

"Your fault?" Ranma asked, "What did you guys do to help Gosunkugi?"

"It wasn't helping him...not exactly," Megumi leaned back and flexed her chest with her hands cupped behind her head as she seemed to stare off at nothing, "Let's just say...the timing wasn't very convenient. We were on our honeymoon when the Ascension happened..."

"She means we were in the Beast World," Ranma replied, "Not here where we could have made a difference."

"The Beast World?" Veil spoke up at last, "That's it! Now I recognize you! You are the Princess Megumi of the Beast Tribes, younger sister to Prince Amano Jyaku..."

"The Beast World?" Lylac looked puzzled.

"Indeed," Ekko mused in a thoughtful voice, "I have heard the legends, of course...a Demon world parallel to our own, inhabited by strange and mystical creatures known as the Beasts, some of whom look human but are anything but."

"So I have heard as well," Tenko remarked, "The Beasts differ from other types of demons, such as Kroshar, Oni and Shikima. They live long lives and are often beings of great power and mischief, but not evil...or so say the legends.""

"The Beast Tribes are of neutral alignment," Veil remarked, "Neither all good nor truly evil, and there is a neutrality pact between them and my people. A Beast Lord such as Prince Amano contains within him vast potential almost worthy of a lesser god..."

"Did contain," Megumi abruptly sobered, then looked down at the floor and said, "My Oneechan...died fighting against the Lord of Chaos after the Ascension claimed the life of a mortal woman whom he had fallen in love with...Tendo Natsume..."

"Natsume?" Nabiki said, "Your brother was in love with my cousin Natsume?"

"Sure did," the Beast Ranma replied, "Loved her ever bit as much as I love his sister, enough that he gave everything he had trying to bring down the Shogun, but of course we got there too late to help him."

"And what of your modifications?" Ekko asked, "You no longer seem entirely...human."

"My doing," Megumi replied as she put her arms around Ranma and her feet hovered off of the floor, allowing her to partially drape her body around him, "When I stole my husband into the Beast world I gave him a portion of my life force and helped him to become a Beast himself so that he could better survive in my world. I've been training him in the hopes that one day he might equal my brother in power..."

"Small chance of that," Ranma glanced down, "He was an okay guy, Amano, and in a way it's my fault that he died, so I gotta make everything right by him and look after his people. But we also got a score to settle with the Shogun, so if you guys are serious about helping us to save this world from the Hell it's turned into..."

"We are," Ryoga replied, "How do you mean...help us?"

Ranma exchanged a look with Megumi and both nodded, then she levitated over his head as another figure appeared in the space behind them, literally walking through the walls as she presented herself to full view, a young girl roughly the same age as Lylac and her companions, wearing a red cheongsam outfit while sporting greenish hair that was done up in the warrior braid that made her look astonishingly a lot like the female version of Ranma.

"Our daughter," Ranma said soberly, "Her name's Lamyra."

"Our pride and joy," Megumi said in tones of great sadness, "We give her to you as an offering to right a great injustice."

"You...give her?" Ranma stared at the green-haired pig-tailed girl, who looked back at him with mild curiosity in her expression.

"You're a volunteer?" Ryoga replied.

"I've come to help," Lamyra replied without hesitation, turning her gaze towards the other young girls before adding, "Any way I can, no matter what it takes. Well, well...and who are you, handsome?"

"Ah...?" Lylac was surprised to discover the question had been addressed to her, and without meaning to she blushed, feeling a sense of thrill run up and down her body.

"It seems that you have won another conquest," Ekko mused, studying her friend's reaction.

"I don't quite follow what you mean..." Nabiki started to say, when she saw the Beast Ranma and his wife react, turning their heads off to the side with alarm plain in their expressions.

"He's coming!" Megumi said.

"Even sooner than I thought," Beast Ranma arched his voice, "Everybody, get ready!"

"Why?" Ryoga asked, "What's...?" and then he felt it, too, as did everyone else with a shred of sensitivity in the chamber.

"What the hell is that?" Ranma gasped, "I feel like my guts are crawling!"

"It's the Lord of Chaos," Beast Ranma replied, "He's here!"

"Here?" Nabiki asked, "What...?"

A massive explosion resonated far over their heads, and huge chunks of earth and concrete began to rain down like an avalanche. One section that was as large as a house fell on Ekko, who caught the chunk easily in her hands, while those that fell near Tenko encountered an invisible barrier, while Beast Ranma extended a fist and blasted a section of falling debris into harmless gravel.

Lylac discovered that the green haired Lamyra, who was partially shielding her with her body, had knocked her to the floor. She also noticed where the girl's hands were placed and asked, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Lamyra smiled, keeping her hands right where they were and leering in such a way that Lylac had a renewed sense of nervousness that had nothing to do with the emergency above them.

"I'd say you have definitely won a convert," Ekko remarked as she casually tossed aide the ten ton chunk of rubble that she had been holding.

"Trust Lylac to find one in a crowd," Tenko remarked, already shifted into her battle armor with glowing sword at the ready.

"Look!" Veil indicated the open space that now yawned above them.

The cloud of debris finally scattered and they saw it...nine feet tall and burgeoning with muscles and a single horn that projected from its forehead, its body partially armored and bearing very little resemblance to anything remotely human.

"What the hell...?" Ranma gasped.

"The Lord of Chaos!" Megumi cried, "It's found us!"

"We're in for it now," Beast Ranma said, "Just for the record, it's been nice knowing you people."

Nabiki stared at her portable scanner and gasped, "Readings completely of the scale! Whatever that thing is..."

"It's toast," Ranma growled, "Everybody keep back, this sucker is mine!"

The creature roared defiantly and vaulted down to the chamber floor, which shook under the impact of his landing.

"Careful," Beast Ranma warned, "He's a lot tougher than he looks."

"You think?" Ryoga replied, not liking the feelings he got just being in the presence of the creature.

"Don't hold anything back," Megumi warned, "That thing has wasted entire armies for fun."

"No fooling," Ranma cracked his knuckles, moving to confront the burgeoning creature, "Welcome to the club, ass-"

The creature swung an arm the size of a tree and backhanded Ranma into a wall as though brushing aside a mere annoyance.

Beast Ranma winced slightly, then murmured to Megumi, "Do I usually sound like that when I'm over my head in a fight?"

"Invariably," Megumi and Nabiki remarked at the same time, then briefly exchanged looks before Megumi smirked and Nabiki fairly bridled.

"That's what I thought," Beast Ranma murmured softly, "No wonder Pop always called me reckless...it's amazing that I survived High School..."

Limbo Ream, Sub-Continuum.

Roll Call:

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome -17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Morobishi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox

"Okay...what the heck just happened?" complained an angry Kinko as she folded her wings and looked around herself in annoyance.

The assembled group of naked teenagers stared around themselves, each surprised at coming off a massive orgiastic orgasm that had swept them literally up and transported them into a realm that looked and felt a weird mix of gray borderline and featureless desert. No sun beat down on their heads, but the contour of the landscape gave one the impression of a beachhead, and there was even a gray haze off to one side that might have been an ocean or large body of water. There was utterly no wind, adding to the eerie feeling of the alien landscape, giving no clue at all as to where they were or how they had gotten there in the first place.

Of course as they sorted through this, the respective Baker's Dozen of teenagers also took stock of where they were and under what conditions they found themselves upon arrival.

Rinse had landed on her back, feeling overwhelmed by the massive jolt of electric discharge that had punctuated her last big orgasm. Atari was still buried in her with her strap-on-dildo, and Ryeka was still buried in Atari's ass with her own strap-on. Both girls lay on top of her, though this turned out to be less curious than what Rinse's hand encountered when she reached to one side with the intent of steadying her posture.

It was warm, soft, spongy and quite firm, about the size of a large grapefruit and twice as ripe for the plucking!

Tachi glanced down at the hand that was gripping her by one breast, then turned her head to the side as she followed the arm up its length until she was able to make eye-contact with a very much surprised Rinse.

"Ah..." Tachi started to say, unable to think of anything intelligent under the circumstances.

"Gah...!" Rinse let go of the breast as if it had burned her, "Tachi-I-uh..."

"Darling," Atari purred, "Just what are you doing?"

"That's what I want to know," Ryeka glowered dangerously.

Both Rinse and Tachi looked up at the two less-than-pleased alien girls, then in chorus said, "Uh-oh..."

It had taken Watazashi and Tinkerbell a few moments longer than the others to have a similar reaction, mainly because they were locked into a very pleasurable activity that was giving great satisfaction to them both, so neither wanted to halt in the act of Tink bobbing up and down on her end of the double-dong dildo worn by Watazashi until they both heard Yuan-Yen gasp, "I hope you two are enjoying yourselves," after having flopped down face-first into the sandy beachfront.

"What gives?" asked Silver, who not only found herself standing with her hands around Tsuyori, cupping each of her large breasts (while Akira had to hold onto the girl in order to steady himself with his manhood still deep within her) but also discovered that she had changed genders somehow and was now back in her female form.

"You're asking me?" Ranko looked down at her own female body, then dusted off her hands and got to her feet before glancing around, "Where the heck are we this time?"

"I believe that should be my line," observed Kama Sutra, who seemed far less affected by standing naked in a strange environment than she was at obviously being frustrated in her desire to continue the orgy, "Your pendant brought us here? Curious choice of location."

"You're telling me that?" Ranko held up the pendant and glared at the thing, "What's the big idea any way? Couldn't you at least have waited long enough for us to grab some of our things?"

"[Not essential,]" the pendant replied, "[Subjects require only themselves to fulfill assignment. This Unit matched radial energy frequencies among subjects and selected to transport them to pre-designated holding location, pending final transfer.]"

"Final Transfer?" Ranko repeated, "Why don't I like the sound of that...?"

Heads turned as Kinko approached Ranko, saying, "That thing talks to you? Pretty neat..."

"Who the heck are you?" Silver asked, hands still clutching Tsuyori's firm bosoms.

"I'm Kinko," she replied, lowered her eyes demurely before adding, "This is my Cursed form, the one I get when I'm splashed with cold water."

"You turn into an Angel when you get wet?" Yuan-Yen asked.

"Fascinating," Kama Sutra remarked, "I didn't even know that there was a spring of the drowned Angel."

"It wasn't like that," Kinko said demurely, "I inherited this curse because of a weird thing that my parents did when they conceived me...well, that's not important anyway."

"Says who?" Silver asked, hands still in place on Tsuyori.

Tsuyori turned an amused smirk over her shoulder as Akira finally withdrew his cock from her body, "You can let go now. I don't need to be supported any more...unless you'd like to continue where we left off?"

"Huh?" Silver seemed to only just them become aware of what she was doing and hastily let go of Tsuyori, stepping back from the brown haired girl and adopting a look of patently false innocence.

"Fascinating," Watazashi remarked as she reluctantly climbed out from under a chagrined Tinkerbell, "I've heard of curses that could be inherited under unusual circumstances, but never saw one such as yours until now. Of course, if they had been inherited I wouldn't need to use false props in order to please my Yuan-chan."

She unstrapped her harness and handed it to Yuan-Yen, who made it disappear as if by magic.

"What the...?" Rinse blinked her eyes as she finally managed to extricate herself from her two lovers, "How did you do that?"

"Trade secret," Yuan-Yen replied, "When your Dad's a professional stage illusionist you learn all kinds of nifty things about hiding and concealing objects. It's all part of my Hidden Weapons martial arts training. By the way, I'll take those other two harnesses if you girls are done with them."

"Oh, I dunno," Ryeka mused, glancing down at the springy thing projecting from between her legs, "I'm sorta getting attached to mine."

"Low-bred hussy," Atari sniffed, though with noticeably less heat in her tone than on previous occasions, unstrapping her own harness and handing it to Yuan-  
Yen, "I would like this back later."

"I'll give you girls claim checks," Yuan-Yen promised.

"Mind if I look at that for myself?" Kinko asked as she approached Ranko.

"Ah..." Ranko hesitated, "If it's all the same, I'd rather keep it on me. You see...I kinda won't exist if the thing gets removed from my body..."

"I won't remove it," Kinko assured her, fingering the pendant and studying it critically, "Odd...doesn't feel exactly the same as a magic item...if anything I almost think it's some kind of receiving device, like a radio crystal."

"Are you saying that it's actually a two-way receiver?" Tsuyori asked as she leaned forward.

"More like a portable unit that's linked to a larger device of some sort," Kinko replied, "I'd have to take it apart and examine it to know for sure, but my guess is this thing works like a mini-computer with a remote-site capacity that keeps it in touch with a central mainframe."

"How do you know this?" asked Kama Sutra.

"It's one of the weird things about my cursed form," Kinko remarked, "I can see energy patterns if I look at something closely. It helps when I don't have my tool kid handy...and I'm pretty good at tinkering with electronic gizmos and stuff. Learned quite a lot from my Aunt Skuld, which is why this thing is reminding me an awful lot of one of her devices."

"Let me get this straight," Silver observed, "You mean that pendant doohickey is some kind of high-tech device that's been screwing around with our lives?"

"Not exactly," Kinko replied, turning the pendant over in her hand, "I'm picking up a pretty strong signal, but it's not really electrical, it's more like a kind of Spiritual energy, Akashik or Hi-Band 4-Wave polydimensional sub-latine..."

"Uh...in Japanese please?" Rinse asked with a slightly pained expression.

"I think I understand," Watazashi mused, "You are saying that the technology inherent in the pendant is of a form that closely resembles Magic, but is geared towards a somewhat different aim. The on-line implications suggest that the pendant is only a mobile unit that connects Ranko here with a far greater device that is, in actuality, controlling our actions."

"Makes sense to me," Yuan-Yen replied, "I've been wondering how a thing that tiny could be manipulating the vast sums of energy that would be required to effect so many dimensional transfers, and over an almost limitless range."

"Surely it must have some limits though," Atari reasoned.

"Maybe we just haven't found them yet," Ryeka mused, "It needs footsolders to do its dirty work, that means it's limited in mobility, and it needs Ranko here to give it a focus."

"So in other words it conned her into taking it up as its personal road agent, huh?" Silver noted, "But what's it need the rest of us for?"

"That's what I'd like to know," remarked Akira, who was facing off in a different direction.

"Huh?" Silver glanced at him, "What's bugging you, Akira-chan? You see something interesting that way?"

"Ah..." Tinkerbell's musical voice gave her sheepish expression an almost comical context, "I think maybe he's worried about being the only guy here...and the rest of us aren't exactly dressed for the weather."

"What weather?" Ranko glanced around, then took the pendant back in her hand and said, "What kind of place did you bring us to this time?"

"[Subjects are needed for transfer,]" the object replied unhelpfully, "[Unit has located subjects at staging ground, awaiting temporal point of final transfer.]"

"I heard it this time!" Kinko exclaimed, "It almost sounds like a synthesized voice...can't tell its gender, but it's definitely computerized!"

"You mean a computer is doing all of this?" Tachi asked, keeping her hands over her bosoms.

"A very powerful computer if I judge rightly," Kama Sutra mused, "One capable of spanning a vast quantity of time and space with almost childlike simplicity."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Oneechan?" Tsuyori asked.

The elder Miroku sister nodded, "Only one computer in existence has the sort of capacity that we are outlining here...Yggdrasil."

"That's what I'm thinking too," Kinko nodded.

"Yggdrasil?" Tachi replied, "The Tree of Life in Old Norse Mythology?"

"More like the Super Computer of the Heavens," Kinko explained, "Aunt Skuld told me all about it, seeing as she's one of the Software debuggers who actually works on one of the mainframes. It's kinda like a planet-sized version of an IBM central relay processing station, capable of balancing innumerable equations that help stabilize reality over the whole Earth Sector."

"Oh come on now," Silver exclaimed, "You expect us to believe that there's some whopping-big Computer that's controlling everything? I thought the Gods did that just their powers or something..."

"Not quite," Kama Sutra explained, "In ancient times the Gods found it difficult to maintain the world in a stable, coherent form, so they created the Super Computer to bring order and stability to the creation. I understand before it went online that things were a bit chaotic with reality being a lot more subjective than it is today."

"They say without Yggdrasil the Gods would never have been able to make a world in which the normal rules of science could be trusted to operate reliably," Tsuyori pointed out, "Life as we know it would have been impossible..."

"And all was formlessness and chaos until the face of the Gods moved upon the waters," Akira said with a somewhat distant expression.

"Say what?" Ryeka asked.

"Uh...nothing," he blushed and kept his face averted from the naked women gathered around Ranko, "Just something my mother once said to me when I was little..."

"A computer that controls everything," Tachi mused, "It almost makes sense when you think about it, and for some odd reason I'm reminded very much of Belldandy."

"Like she would have anything to contribute here," Rinse asked, thinking of their mutual cousin, only to notice the odd way Tachi was crossing her legs and keeping her hands over her breasts, "Are you feeling cold, Tachi-chan?"

"Ah...no...not really," Tachi kept her eyes averted from Rinse's direction.

"Are you sure?" Rinse put a hand to her cousin's forehead, "You look kind of ruddy..."

"I'm sure it's nothing, Rinse-chan," Ryeka smoothly interposed herself between Tachi and Rinse, "You know how modest she gets. Tachi'd probably feel better if she had her mother's camera and could take pictures to sell for a profit. What do you think people might pay to see me in the raw?"

She struck a fetching pose and Rinse gulped, unable to help looking the blue haired girl over until Atari thrust her own rather spectacularly endowed anatomy in her face.

"Darling," she growled the word, "How dare you notice this low-bred trash while I'm standing here feeling alone and neglected."

"Why you...!" Ryeka started to bristle when she caught a look from Tsuyori, and suddenly she smiled as a wicked impulse came over her. Putting her arms around Atari's waist she leaned in so that her pelvis could brush against the other girl's rear as she leaned her chin on Atari's shoulder and cooed, "Why quibble about who's better built when you could have the both of us for a bargain?"

Atari's expression was comical to say the least, as was Rinse's face as her mouth fell open. On any other occasion Tachi would have been quick to take advantage of the situation with a barbed commentary to tease the trio about their odd relationship, but now she turned a green-eyed stare at both Alien girls that went totally unnoticed by the object of their mutual desires.

"Explain to us how this World-Tree Computer works," Watazashi mused as the rest of the group chose to return to the main topic of conversation, "How long has it been online?"

"Difficult to say," Kama Sutra replied, "Ten thousand years, possibly more. I only know that it is the reason that things work out the way they do on our world rather than happen in a far more random and unpredictable manner."

"We only know about it because we're friends of the Morisato clan," Tsuyori replied, giving Kinko a look as she added, "But from the sound of things you seem to have even more intimate knowledge."

"What I know about Gods would take a month to explain," Kinko replied, "But for the sake of it, let's just say that the Megumi I know personally are like regular people. Sure they've got vast amounts of raw power and they're connected to all these Universal Archetypal powers, but being Anthropomorphic representatives, they tend to behave a lot like us mortals. Trying to control things directly proved too tough for the Titans who came before them, so the Gods worked out these devices to make things easier for them to manage. Like Odin the Wanderer...he worked out some of the basic programming language and fixed it to this mobile control rod that looks like a spear...the Spear of Destiny, as a matter of fact..."

"I thought that was a Christian symbol," Yuan-Yen noted.

"Naw," Kinko said dismissively, "That's just them trying to identify their own cultic nonsense with the artifacts of power that the real Gods use. It's like with the Chalice of Souls that they confuse with their 'Holy Grail,' when any halfway competent history student knows the Eucharist was based on a rite of Mithraism and had nothing to do with the Jewish Passover..."

"Back to the point, please," Watazashi gently urged.

"Okay then," Kinko replied, "Anyway, the Kami and Megumi use these powerful devices to do stuff that saves on the wear and tear of them having to use their own internal powers. That pendant thing could be based on one such artifact, though it's kinda hard to see how it could slip past the normal safety protocols. Basically the Gods don't much like mortals having the power to travel between times and dimensions...it screws up the alignment matrices that govern a particular timeline and makes things difficult to predict. It's like that old saw about casting stones into the water and watching the ripples fan out...past and future get really confused in the mix, which is why you need Yggdrasil to straighten things out and make sure integrity is preserved, otherwise the whole shebang could dissolve into Chaos."

"Only here we have a clear example of Yggdrasil acting to create its own disturbances and imbalance," Kama Sutra mused, "I find that...most curious indeed."

"I call it a bloody inconvenient," Yuan-Yen noted, "And a potential disaster in the making."

"Which suggests that an even greater disaster is the thing that we are here to prevent," Tsuyori stroked her chin and looked thoughtful, then glanced at Tachi, "What was it you said before about the pendant deliberately selecting candidates who are young, good looking and healthy?"

"Ah..." Tachi only half-glanced Tsuyori's way, "It's just a tentative theory I had...about what we have in common that might be needed by the pendant..."

"Hey," Silver frowned, "That may explain what the rest of us are doing here, but what about Akira? Why'd it snatch him?"

"Ah..." it was Ranko's turn to look evasive, "Maybe because...I asked the pendant to bring him with us."

"You what?" Akira momentarily forgot to avert his eyes as he turned to glance at the redhead, only doing so gave him more than an eye-full of Silver and the others, so he looked away with his face once more flushing crimson.

"Well...I...sorta thought maybe it'd be fun to have a guy in the mixture," Ranko shuffled a bare foot on the ground, "And because...I thought maybe Silver wanted you with us."

"Oh..." Silver replied, then thought of the way Tsuyori had been all but climbing over her half-brother and frowned, "Thanks a lot."

"So," Kama Sutra turned back to a nervous Tachi, "We are left to fall back on your original hypothesis, that the pendant wants young, strong and sexually attractive candidates in order to achieve some objective, for which my sister and I have been drafted."

"Not that we mind all that much," Tsuyori added, "This sounds like the sort of thing that we Miroku were trained to handle, while the rest of you guys obviously needed a little coaching."

"We're not that green," Silver snorted.

"Speak for yourself," Rinse replied with a nervous glance at her trio of girlfriends.

"Ah...one question," Tinkerbell spoke up, "Why'd it grab us up in the middle of our having orgasms?"

Ranko blinked, glanced down at the pendant and replied, "It said something about matching resonances...or something like that..."

"Sexual harmonics?" Kama Sutra exchanged looks with Tsuyori.

"Perhaps a single wave band energy transference," Tsuyori replied, "Generated by the resonance of our bodies working in concert."

"Mind running that one by me again?" Ranko asked nervously, "That doesn't mean what I think it does...?"

"I'm afraid it may well at that," Watazashi replied, "The logic is rather inescapable."

"Maybe to you," Rinse replied, "I wouldn't mind getting a good head start first myself..."

"Cheer up, Rinse-chan," Ryeka patted her on one shoulder, "You'll have us beside you."

"Where you go I will always follow, Darling," Atari seconded as she slipped an arm around Rinse's waist from the other side.

"Er..." Rinse said nervously, "Tachi?"

"Ah...sure," Tachi reluctantly agreed, "One for all and all that..."

"But why us?" Tinkerbell asked.

"Ain't it obvious enough?" Silver thrust her ample chest outward with hands on her hips, "Because we're Top-of-The-Line quality Buff Bods, ain't no one like us and the rest are second-best and accept no substitutes!"

"You sound almost eager to participate in this," Kama Sutra noted.

"Ah...well," Silver shrugged, "I signed on to do my part to save the Universe and all of that, and there's no sense backing out now that we've come this far, right?"

"Against my better judgement, I'm forced to agree with Silver," Akira noted, "If there's a threat to all reality, then if falls to us to do our part to preserve all we know and love in our branch of the cosmos."

"Right," Silver nodded, then blinked her eyes and said, "Hey, what do you mean against your better judgement...?"

"Okay," Ranko said, "So whatever we gotta do has something to do with sex, right? Only...I'm not too sure if I follow that part.

"It's quite simple, really," Kama Sutra replied, "Sex is one of the most driving, dynamic forces in the Cosmos...the bi-polarity of the Yin and the Yang that exists within all of us, like positive and negative forces reaching out to achieve a balance."

"When we make love the forces of the universe flow through our bodies and we achieve one with the powers of creation and destruction," Tsuyori added, "The 'little-death' we experience at the point of ultimate bliss is, in fact, the recreation of the soul and the point where new life can begin. As each waking moment of our lives contains beginnings and endings, so too does the act of sexual intercourse contain within it the very forces that can reshape the cosmos. Magnified a thousandfold, such forces could very well remake the planet into a new and wonderful likeness."

"But only if the act is performed with selfless love and devotion to your partner," Kama Sutra cautioned, "Selfish love, like any thoughtless act, can have negative consequences in direct proportion to the volatility of the act itself. It's like the difference between Carnal love that has no element of sharing and love of the spirit and the body that defines our relationship with both ourselves, our partners and the creative center of existence."

"I believe the element that the pendant was looking for is a kind of Ecstasy and Bliss that is the goal of all sexual congress," Tsuyori noted, "When we each came in close proximity of that Unifying principle we achieved a kind of oneness and selflessness that linked us all together, and that may be the means by which we can generate the power to do whatever it is that that Yggdrasil has intended."

"Neat!" Kinko grinned, "Never thought of it that way before. Only..."

"Yes?" Kama Sutra asked the winged blonde girl.

"Well..." Kinko squirmed somewhat, "Does it matter what kind of sex we were having when we all went through the loop? I was with a bunch of girls and only one guy when I got snatched in mid-climax, and from the way you're describing this Yin and Yang stuff, doesn't it follow that you're talking a guy and a girl doing it together?"

"Not at all," Tsuyori replied, "We all contain male and female aspects within ourselves."

"Just because we have two X chromosomes and no Y doesn't mean we lack all trace of masculine qualities," Kama Sutra noted, "The circuit can still be formed between any two people who share a strong basic attraction for one another, regardless of gender."

"A-hah," Yuan-Yen eyed Watazashi skeptically, "Is that why you were bouncing Peter Pan here while I was getting reamed by the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum of the Black Rose set?"

"Are you saying that two of me wasn't enough of a turn on?" Watazashi playfully countered.

"Ah..." Tinkerbell thought about the implications, eyeing Watazashi with a slightly pained expression.

"Hey, y'know," Silver suddenly spoke up, "It just occurred to me that the pendant thingie switched me and Red here from our Cursed forms to our natural bodies. Does that mean it has the power to undo curses?"

"More like shift the equations to achieve a favorable outcome," Tsuyori smiled, "Like flipping a switch between polarities, I imagine."

"Are you sure you think of your male aspect as a curse?" Akira asked Silver.

"Well..." she reluctantly mused, "Not really. Since I've had mine all of my life it really doesn't feel like such a curse to me, but my folks always call it that, so I just go with the flow and try to make the best of things. Ain't a problem for me that I'm such a great switch hitter."

"And Modest to a fault," Tachi noted in a shadow of her usual sarcasm.

"What've I got to be modest about?" Silver countered, "I know what I got and I like it!"

Tachi glanced at Rinse and asked, "Are you sure you guys are related?"

"Well..." Rinse replied lopsidedly, taking note that either arm was presently being claimed by a girlfriend.

"So...we're here to be screwed," Ranko sighed, "Literally and physically, only what's the big hold up? Why are we stuck in this place like it was an interdimensional bus stop or..."

"I think that may be what it is," Tachi said as she glanced around at the terrain, "Haven't any of you noticed the topography? Doesn't it look somehow familiar?"

"Hmm..." Tsuyori glanced around, "Now that you mention it..."

"I thought I was just imagining things," Tinkerbell said in her tinkling, musical voice, "But you're right. It's pretty barren, but I'd know those hills anywhere, and if I'm right, then the place where we're standing could be Furinkan High School."

"You're kidding," Yuan-Yen looked around, "Then what's with the waterline, and why does it look so barren?"

"Perhaps it is Furinkan in the far future, or even the past," Kama Sutra suggested, "Or perhaps we're merely seeing a template created as a Virtual World by the Super Computer for the purpose of giving us a place to stand before Yggdrasil takes us to the place where we are headed."

"Yeah?" Silver asked, "Then what's the hold up? If it can go anywhere in time and space..."

Of a sudden a swirling of the gray mass opened up above their heads, and the party collectively sense the maw reaching down with full intents of swallowing them whole as some new destination awaited their arrival.

"Don't look now," Ranko called out to the others, "But I think we're...!"

And then they were gone from this place as the quest continued, shifting onto a whole new arena...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Waiting for Godai: shadowmane

(Albert Albee eat your heart out) They're on their way at last, but what will be waiting for them when our gang finally does reach their fateful destination, and what of Ranma and the others facing off against the Lord of Chaos? Will the Shogun and his Master win, and will reality collapse in on itself, leaving nothing in its wake? (Gee, I sure hope not before payday!) Things shift into high gear next time as worlds collide and fortunes are decided, so would you all kindly prepare yourselves for the impending twelfth chapter...and by all means be there, you won't want to miss it!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	14. Chapter 14

RanSquares12

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
with ideas and personalities helpfully supplied by fellow fanfic writers Nicole Manders (Dreiser) and DB Sommers)

Chapter Twelve.

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome-17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi Native to this Continuum.  
Ranma Saotome-38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo-38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.  
Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Ranko Saotome -16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo -16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome -17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki -16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Morobishi -16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome -17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji -14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome -18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome -18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox

"What the Hell is that thing?" Lylac asked as they all stared at the hideous creature that loomed up before them.

"Hell is right," Ekko replied, "Unless I am wrong in my estimation..."

"And you never are," Tenko noted matter-of-factly.

"...Then what we are seeing is a manifestation of a Class Nine Paradimensional Omni-wave Psychotrope," Ekko resumed as if never interrupted, "Put in layman's terms, a human mortal possessed by the spirit of a Major Level Demon."

"Not just any class of the Demon tribes," Veil noted, "That is a Lord of Chaos, a Primordial manifestation of penultimate evil and destruction."

"He's bad news all right," the Ranma dressed in a black uniform replied, taking a defensive stance as the creature loomed before him, "He always was a pain in the rump when he was merely human, but once he got taken over he became the worst sort of nightmare for everybody who knew him."

"What do we do, Nabiki?" Ryoga asked, "He took Ranma down with only one blow..."

"Gnaaah...!" Ranma grunted as he pried himself loose from the deep impression he had just carved out of one of the walls of the chamber, "Say that again, Porky? I didn't quite hear that..."

"Careful," the girl named Megumi warned, "He's more dangerous than he looks. Compared to him even a Saiyajin is small potatoes."

"Do tell," Time-cop Ranma flexed his arms and cracked his knuckles, "That's good...I could use a real workout after wasting my time with that last loser."

"Wow," remarked Lamyra, "He really does sound just like you, father."

"Only I'm better looking," her father replied, calling out to the other Ranma, "Don't be a Baka and try to take him alone! We need to take this guy down fast or he'll kill everybody in this room just because the Shogun told him!"

"Don't tell me how to fight my battles," Time Cop Ranma shot back as he approached the Lord of Chaos, "You lost, remember? I never lose...never."

"I agree with Lamyra-chan, Darling," Megumi noted softly, "He does sound an awful lot like you."

"Swell," Beast Ranma replied, "That just makes my day..."

The Lord of Chaos roared as he drew to his full height and flexed his burgeoning limbs, his black, oily form radiating the awful might of his presence like a thousand Battle Auras magnified and redoubled. The utter wrongness that he manifested was enough to quail even the bravest soul and make strong hearts beat more timidly in the breast as the unusual party of adventurers confronted him like a gathering of insects.

"Man," Time-Cop Ranma winced, "His breath is worse than the rest of him put together."

"Careful," Beast Ranma warned, "There's a lot more to him than he looks. He's the Lord of Chaos, the most terrible of all the Shogun's servants."

"Do tell," Time-Cop Ranma replied, maintaining his defensive stance, "So far I ain't impressed."

"You should be," Megumi cautioned, "He's powerful enough to lay waste to an entire continent if he gets angry. He killed my brother and the Destroyer when the Shogun took over the Earth Plane a mortal generation ago."

"Destroyer you say?" Time-Cop Ranma chuckled without mirth, "This ought to be something."

"Oh for the love of the Kami..." Nabiki growled under her breath, "Just get rid of him, Ranma, and don't putter around like you did with the last one! We're on a short timetable here, and according to my chronal readings and Ryonami's calculations we've got less than a minute to go before the Intersection point happens.

"Right," Beast Ranma replied, "What say we take this outside, Bro?"

"You just read my mind, shorty," Time-Cop Ranma growled back, "Wait for him to make the next move, then we do it."

The Lord of Chaos bellowed defiantly and made his attack, drawing back his massive fists with the clear intent of smashing the impudent cretins who dared to stand in his way. Even as his looming power threatened to be unleashed upon them all the two Ranma rocketed forward and struck the Lord of Chaos with simultaneous blows that propelled his massive body backward. Unfortunately most of the force of their blows was absorbed by an invisible field that surrounded the Lord's body, but neither of the Saotome men was in the least bit fazed by this as they drove their combined might into a combination thrust that carried the three of them up and into a nearby wall, to push through this and continue outward into the dwindling light of an approaching sunset.

The ensuing silence was punctuated only by the sound of shifting rubble, and then into the silence that followed this Nabiki murmured, "Twice the Saotomes, twice the fun."

"You have that impression too, huh?" Megumi smiled at Nabiki, and for a brief instant there was a spark of almost kinship between them.

"Wow," Lylac murmured, "That sure wasn't like your average grade martial artist."

"That was a bit intense, even by our standards," Ekko agreed with her usual calm sense of understatement.

"Sure hope that creature doesn't come back anytime soon," Tenko averred, "That thing made my guts crawl."

"As well it should," replied Veil, "What we saw was only the physical manifestation of an entity whose very nature is a violation of the Universal Order."

"In other words he's bad news," noted Lamyra, who turned a glance towards Nabiki and said, "What was that about a convergence?"

Ryoga glanced at his chronometer, "I make it another forty seconds, that agree with you, Nabiki?"

"Almost on the needle," Nabiki replied, "We'd better prepare to have incoming, people."

"More young people are to arrive?" Megumi asked, "Then we must act quickly. If you are anything like the Ryoga I once knew, you could be of great assistance to me."

"What do you have in mind, lady?" Ryoga asked.

"The Lord of Chaos is going to be busy dealing with my husband and your Ranma," Megumi smiled, "That means the fortress below is only lightly defended, which makes it the perfect time for us to strike against the author of this whole campaign of terror."

"You mean, Mother...?" Lamyra asked.

"You stay here with the others and prepare to greet more young people," Megumi replied, glancing at Nabiki, "I guess I can trust you to play den mother until I get back?"

Nabiki's eyes narrowed slightly, "Like Ryo-kun said, what do you have in mind?"

"Why, it's very simple," Megumi replied, "We're going down there to kill the Shogun!"

The Lord of Chaos crashed into the ground like a meteorite, smashing homes and buildings before coming to a full rest as the two Ranmas confronted him, one hovering in the air, the other assuming another fighting crouch.

"Tough bugger," Time-Cop Ranma said, "That AT field of his must be a Level Ten at least."

"Try fifteen," Beast-Ranma said, "If you're into rating things like that. Me, I just tear into them and leave the physics to people with college degrees."

Time-Cop Ranma grudgingly eyed his counterpart and said, "Looks like you're doing all right for yourself. Neat trick with the levitation..."

"Something my wife taught me how to do," Beast-Ranma remained airborne as he assumed a fighting crouch, "Along with a bunch of other neat stuff they know how to do in the Beast world."

"Remind me to take pointers," Ranma said as he saw the Lord looming up to confront them, "After we take out Tall, Dark and Ugly."

"Don't sell him too short, like I used to," Beast-Ranma cautioned, "That guy used to be a human being before the Lord of Chaos took him over. All you're seeing is the outward manifestation of his real essence. He's like the small tip of a very large iceberg, and when he really starts to cut loose he could reduce all of Nerima to a cinder."

"Tip of the Iceberg, huh," Time-Cop Ranma was thoughtful, "Dunno why, but there's something awfully familiar about this guy..."

"There should be, "Beast Ranma replied, "Used to be somebody I thought I knew pretty well...of course in the old days his fighting technique was barely so-so. Take another hard look and see if you get who he is beneath that whale-hide and muscle."

Time-Cop Ranma scowled as the Lord drew up and regarded him with malevolent loathing. The creatures whose attitude implied a familiarity and recognition of the two parallel versions of Saotome Ranma glared at both of them with hate that was limitless and undying. Almost by reflex the creature extended its clawed hands as though gripping an invisible pipe, and then from those hands a swirling crimson energy appeared, extending outward to form a long curving shape that was entirely composed of energy but whose contour was unmistakably that of a blazing katana.

For the first time in a long while, Time-Cop Ranma actually blanched as he gasped, "KUNO?"

"Bingo," Beast Ranma replied, "The one and only...Natume-chan's ex-boyfriend gone over onto the darkside."

"Boyfriend?" Time-Cop Ranma said, calling out to the monster, "Hey, Kuno...you mean you finally found yourself a girlfriend who could stand to be around you?"

In response to the taunting insult, the Lord of Chaos roared and brought its blazing sword up to attack with a force that cleaved the air and caused the ground to erupt like a power-wave geyser...

As this was going on, however, back in the citadel of the Dark Shogun, a circle opened up in the air above the ruins that had once been a machine of death and carnage, and through this gap thirteen naked teenagers plummeted back to the ground, making various whoops and cries of dismay while some grasped for handholds or tried to land on their feet while others reached out and grasped the hand of their nearest companion.

"What the...?" Lylac gasped as she saw a body hurtling towards her head and started to reach up her hands to ward off the impact, only to have Tenko launch herself into the air and intercept the payload, which turned out to be a rather startled Ranko, who saw the blue haired girl in the Juraian armor hovering in the air above the floor of a ruined complex and made the natural exclamation, "Whoa!"

"Pleased to meet you," Tenko smiled, "So nice of you and your friends to drop in."

"Ow!" Silver blinked as she found her own fall had been broken by a pair of very strong arms, and when she looked up into the face of a stunning redhead she naturally asked, "Who the heck are you?"

"My full name is a bit of a mouthful," the redhead replied, "But you can call me Ekko."

Akira's fall was broken in a different manner as a wave of force reached out to gently levitate him to the ground, and he turned with an astonished look to find a brown haired girl chanting a prayer for his safe delivery. One look into her inhumanly beautiful face was enough to tame the hardest mortal breast, and without knowing quite why he felt like offering a prayer at her feet as he might to a shrine of the Kami.

Meanwhile Rinse was embraced in the arms of a levitating Ryeka, while Tachi dangled from Atari's hands as the four of them looked around at their new surroundings. Tinkerbell was hovering over Watazashi and Yuan-Yen, the former who had landed on her feet while the latter had taken a bad spill onto her rump and was presently voicing profane curses at the ancestors of whatever interior decorator had left the floor in such a mess for people to land upon. Meanwhile other eyes were on Tsuyori and Kama Sutra, who each were dangling from one of the legs of a hovering Kinko, who's wings were spread wide and beating the air slightly to maintain a hovering position. The young Angel girl drew most of the attention of those not presently otherwise occupied as she was quite a sight to behold in even the most secular context.

Ryeka turned and exchanged looks with Tenko, then as one they both cried, "YOU?" with a sense of strong familiarity.

"Cousin Veil?" Kinko blinked her eyes as she saw the brown haired girl while she set the two Miroku girls on the floor then folded her own wings to stand amid the others

Nabiki swept the room, which was suddenly full of teenagers, then sought out Ranko, who was wearing the pendant (and nothing else), then elected to wait until Tenko set her down before saying, "Well, Young Lady, I certainly hope you have a reasonably good explanation for what you've been up to?"

"Ah..." Ranko recognized her ersatz Aunt and felt immediately chagrined, as she might in the presence of any other elder. With a sheepish smile she replied, "Um...would you believe that I was hijacked to come here?'

"Do tell," Nabiki noted dryly, then scanned the room before saying, "I take it you brought your friends along to the same party? I must say, I'm a bit surprised at the dress code."

Ranko ran a hand along the back of her head and made a soft laughing sound that was so unintentionally like her father that Nabiki felt a momentary stab of unexpected emotion. She kept her face neutral as the girl said, "Well...It's like this...they followed me home...so can I keep them, Auntie?"

"Less than the usual strays we picked up in our last travels," Lylac noted, exchanging nods with the familiar faces in the crowd before scanning the new faces, "Nice to see you again...sisters."

"Likewise," Watazashi averred, "And despite appearances to the contrary, we have been endeavoring to make the most of a highly questionable situation."

"In other words," Yuan-Yen half-grinned, "When in Kyoto, get used to eating fish...Momma."

"Ah...Mother," Tachi exclaimed nervously, "It really isn't as bad as it looks. Well, it is, but, not in a negative sense of the term..."

Nabiki raised her hand to stave off the intended explanation, "Never mind, Young Lady. You think I haven't come up with a few whoppers in my time that I don't know when somebody else is laying it on thick? Maybe under different circumstances I'd consider making a point about all of this, but for now I think we'd better just get the introductions out of the way, so would you young people kindly give me your names so I won't be getting you all confused with one another?" She took a second sweep of the assembly and added, "Not that it would be all that hard to tell you apart..."

"Fair enough," Lylac said, "Then I'll go first. I'm Tendo Lylac."

"Eileen Kent Kane Managi Daitokuji," Ekko exclaimed, then added dryly, "But my friends just call me Ekko."

"Gee, I wonder why?" asked Silver, who next said, "Saotome Silver, at your service."

"Tendo Akira," the handsome male young remarked while his eyes remained focused upon Veil, who smiled at him shyly and said, "Morisato Veil, and very pleased to meet you."

"Hey!" Silver growled, immediately sensing the new competition.

"My name's Masaki Ryeka," one of the two blue-haired girls present said as she turned to regard the other, "And what the heck are you doing here, Sis?"

"Other than breathing the same air as you?" the other blue haired girl teased, "Masaki Tenko, and very pleased to see you again, dear sister."

"Those two are sisters?" Yuan-Yen inquired with a start.

"Gee," Tinkerbell's musical voice chimed, "What a surprise that is."

"The resemblance between those two is uncanny," Watazashi agreed, "Only I suspect that they do not each hail from the exact same timeline, just a very close parallel to one another."

"Oh really?" Ryeka raised blue eyebrows then smiled, "In that case, I guess maybe you don't remember the five thousand yen I loaned you the other day..."

"Nice try," Tenko smiled, "Same universe or not, you are my sister."

"Then I shall go next," Watazashi said proudly, "Saotome Watazashi, and this is my lovely companion, Tendo Yuan-Yen, whose name belies that she is a treasure beyond price..."

"Well, not exactly," Tachi half-heartedly smiled, sharing a look with her temporal sibling before saying, "I'm Tendo Tachi."

"And I am the Princess Moroboshi Atari," the green-haired alien girl remarked as she hovered near to Rinse before draping her arms around her neck, "And this is my true beloved and Darling, Rinse-chan."

"Hey!" Ryeka growled, showing fangs, "Hands off my Rinse-chan!"

"Oh my," Veil remarked, "It would seem Lylac's twin is quite popular with the ladies."

"You don't know the half of it," Tachi sighed with a look of deep sadness.

Tenko sighed, and put an arm in Ryeka's path to forestall her getting at the other girl then said, "You always were the one to fall in love at the drop of a silk screen, but this isn't the time or place for us to begin quarrelling over petty issues."

"Quite so," Lylac mused before turning a look towards the hovering blonde girl, "Don't tell me you're a relative too?"

"Uh...yeah," Tinkerbell's musical voice tinkled slightly as she self-consciously covered her large breasts and loins with her arm and hand, "I'm Tendo Tinkerbell."

"Tinkerbell?" Nabiki asked with a raised eyebrow, "Pardon my asking a question that I know I'm going to regret, but...who was your father, Peter Pan?"

"No," Tinkerbell's lithe form shimmered slightly as she did an aerial acrobatic maneuver that showed off a lot more of her impressive anatomy than she would definitely have liked, "My Fama's name is Perfume the Enforcer...and my mother is Tendo Kasumi."

There was a slight pause before Nabiki said, "Kasumi...and of course she was the one who chose to name you this?"

"That's right," Tinkerbell replied.

"No further questions," Nabiki turned away to hide her somewhat flustered expression.

"I have one," Lylac said, "Your Fama was Momma Perfume? But...?"

"It was a weird magical birthing, okay?" Tinkerbell said defensively, "You got a problem with that?"

"Not really," said a girl with blue-green hair hovering next to her, "By the way, my name is Saotome Lamyra, and I could write the book on weird birthings. Where I come from you'd almost count as normal."

Nabiki turned to Kinko and said, "And what's your story?"

"Ah..." Kinko gave a sheepish smile as she looked up at a somewhat different version of her much beloved Aunt Nabiki, "I'm Kuonji Kinko, and I'm also a Tendo. I...well...if you're wondering about the wings, it's complicated..."

"That just leaves us," Tsuyori remarked, "I'm Saotome Tsuyori, and this is my half-sister, Saotome Kama Sutra."

"Kama Sutra?" Nabiki asked with a dubious expression, to which the tall girl in question only smiled and said, "I know all of the positions, and quite a few I invented for myself."

"Fascinating," Tenko remarked, "Two more Saotomes, and unless I mistake my guess, one of you looks vaguely like a Kuonji?"

"That would be me," Tsuyori acknowledged.

"Hey, that makes us half-kin," Kinko grinned, "Neat!"

"Now that we have all of that out of the way," Silver turned to regard the chamber that they were standing in the midst of, "What the heck is this place? Uncle Frank's Laboratory?"

"I was going to say the same thing myself," Rinse remarked, "Like Aunt Washu's lab after the time she made that colossal mistake and asked Mihoshi to straighten a few things out."

"That happened to you as well?" Tenko remarked with lifted eyebrows.

"I guess no matter what world it is, Grandma and Aunt Mihoshi are universal constants," Ryeka averred with a wry expression.

"I have a much more relevant question, Mother..." Tachi hesitated, "You don't mind if I call you Mother?"

"I've been called a lot worse," Nabiki said dryly.

"Okay," Tachi mused softly, "Since we can assume that the pendant has been dragging us all around the cosmos with a purpose in mind, might I assume it has something to do with that device occupying the center of the room?"

"That piece of junk?" Yuan-Yen sniffed in distaste, still rubbing her sore bottom before Watazashi noticed and started rubbing it for her.

"A piece of junk it may be now," Ekko replied, "But we were about to get it working again when you people arrived, comprising the last components needed to complete the operation."

"Ah...I don't like the sound of this," Tinkerbell murmured darkly, her musical tones belying the dramatic emphasis that she had intended.

"Me neither," Rinse averred with even greater reluctance evident on her lovely expression.

"It's quite simple, really," Veil replied in deceptively calm tones, "We're going to change the world from within and make it into a better world, the world it was meant to be before the darkness happened."

"I just know I'm gonna regret asking this," Silver averred, "But...how?"

"That is the question, isn't it?" a new voice inquired, causing all heads to turn towards the device itself...or rather at the figure perched atop the device, a gray-suited man wearing a very droll-expression.

"Who...?" Nabiki reacted with alarm, her senses literally reeling at the sight of the man perched above her.

"Elder Gods above and below," Veil murmured.

"No kidding," Kinko said in wholehearted agreement.

"Who are you?" Ranko asked, wondering why the very sight of the man made her feel like she was looking on a big Tom Cat, and the smile on his face made her feel even more than usual like a girl named Alice.

"Unimportant," he replied, "What I want to know is if you kids really mean to go through with this, even knowing the risks...or do you have any idea what forces you may be unleashing when you play with such adult toys?"

"We know what the risks may be, Elder Toltir," Ekko replied, "But we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to save reality as we know it."

"Aw," Toltir smiled, "You guessed."

"On the contrary," Ekko replied, "I never guess...at least not without doing considerable research. You are Toltir, Elder God of Mischief and self-  
proclaimed protector of Continuity existence. Perhaps the question might be what you are doing here and what are your intentions for revealing your presence?"

Nabiki gasped aloud and said, "Toltir?"

"The same," the Elder God smiled with a lazy, catlike expression, "And let's just say I wanted to come see for myself the type of girls who'd be willing to strap themselves into a Nazi Rape Machine in order to undo the spell cast by that arch-klutz, Gosunkugi?"

"Strap ourselves into...?" Silver blinked, "Hey, wait! Time out! Nobody ever explained this part to me! And I definitely didn't hear this come up at any of our union meetings!"

"I think I'd like to call my lawyer now, if it's just the same with you," Tachi averred in chagrin.

"You call yours, I'll call mine," Yuan-Yen added in a matching tone of voice.

"A Nazi Rape Machine?" Tsuyori exchanged looks with Kama Sutra.

"Sounds like fun," Kama Sutra smiled, not unduly worried.

"Does Dad know about this?" Rinse turned to glance around, "Uh...where is Daddy? Aunt Nabiki?"

"Your father is...a bit busy at the moment," Nabiki murmured faintly, "But I can definitely say with some confidence that when he gets back he is going to literally hit the ceiling..."

Both Ranmas hit the ceiling of a nearby building and laid the top floor to rubble, which naturally collapsed the floors beneath until the whole thing caved in like a house of cards.

"Well, so much for the direct approach," Beast-Ranma grunted as he touched his brother and the two of them went unsolid, passing right through the worst of the debris to emerge in the air above the wreckage.

"Neat trick," Time-Cop Ranma averred, glancing back at the Lord of Chaos, "Sure packs more of a wallop than the Kuno I used to know."

"The Kuno you and me knew is toast," Beast Ranma said with a nod of his head, "That there is the Lord of Chaos, pure and simple."

"You think so?" Time-Cop Ranma frowned, "Looks like the same Kuno to me...big and full of bluster."

"Well he ain't these days, or conversation for that matter," Beast Ranma pointed out.

"Guess there are advantages that go with the downsides," Time-Cop Ranma reasoned.

"You're forgetting about the part where he can lay waste to whole cities," Beast Ranma pointed out.

"Big deal," Time-Cop Ranma shrugged, "So can I, if I wanted to, that is."

The Lord of Chaos roared his outrage to the heavens and hells at the sight of his enemy's continued survival, and to express this emotion he tore up a sizeable chunk of ground and sent it hurtling their way, as big as a large building.

"Look out!" Beast Ranma cried in warning.

"You run, I'll stay," Time-Cop Ranma said confidently, bringing both arms up into play and shattering the hurtling meteor-sized terra firma into a thousand smaller pieces, while his heels dug into the ground and he barely budged more than a few centimeters. Ranma shrugged off the debris that settled down all around him, his hair hardly mussed in the display of raw power that even impressed his companion.

"Not bad," Beast Ranma remarked, "I doubt even Ryoga on his best day would have tried that."

"Yeah, well...me'n Pig-boy get along a lot better than we used to," Time-Cop Ranma explained, "We kinda work out a bit to keep in shape and all..."

The Lord of Chaos sensed that he was being treated dismissively by these two Ranmas, a fact his ego could not tolerate. With another loud bellow he came rushing at the pair, bearing down on the land-bound Saotome like a charging rhinoceros, backed by the power of a freight train. Time-Cop Ranma held his ground and met the charge head-on, catching the creature's outstretched hands and halting his momentum as the Lord of Chaos forced him back for several yards and Ranma dug a trough into the shattered concrete. For a moment the two of them held out in motionless stalemate with neither one giving ground or showing the least inclination to falter.

"I don't believe it," Beast Ranma remarked, "You're holding him at bay..."

"Yeah?" Ranma grunted, "Well, how about a little hand down here."

"Just making conversation," Beast Ranma's eyes suddenly flashed with fire, and then the Lord of Chaos was blasted by twin beams that buffeted his massive body and caused him to stagger for an instant.

Time-Cop Ranma took advantage of that slight hesitation to break the hold on his right arm and land a powerful blow that drove the Lord of Chaos back a good fifty meters and partially buried him in the ground. The Lord of Chaos was not long deterred by this and rapidly freed himself from the ground, during which time the land-bound Ranma turned to his floating companion and said, "What kind of Ki-attack was that?"

"Something else I picked up in the Beast World," Ranma explained, "Nice hook, by the way. Pop wouldn't much approve, but I can't argue with the results. Better watch it, though, he don't look too happy."

"So what else is new?" Time-Cop Ranma replied, squaring off to face the next attack by the creature.

The Shogun was startled when he heard the sound of an explosion echoing from close nearby and turned to the monitor that showed the antechamber to his citadel of power. He belatedly chided himself for having forgotten about the Beast Woman, Megumi, but the man standing at her side was none other than the hated Hibiki Ryoga. The sight of him alone caused the Shogun to cast out his hand and summon up his guardian minions, shadow warriors all who had lived and perished in his service but had been denied eternal rest by his Necromantic powers.

Megumi started to move on ahead when Ryoga touched her arm, having sensed the gathering of shadows directly ahead of them, and when he descended a flight of stairs he saw immediately the cause of his uneasiness. The ghostly aspects of the walking dead were enough to make his skin crawl, but rather than fear, what he felt for them was mostly pity. How much like one of the walking dead he had been in those years when he had first recovered from the news of Akane's madness. He had gone from blaming his rival for what happened to pitying Ranma as he saw the mere shell of a man that he had become in the wake of such tragedy, which was why Ryoga had taken to coaching the boy he had once loathed back to a semblance of life. Ranma had needed a friend back then, and Ryoga had elected to be that friend, standing by Ranma's side through so much else that had happened without complaint or hesitation.

Ranma had needed the chance to regain his will to live, and that was no less than these walking shades deserved if there were any shred of their humanity left to them. Some were recognizable faces, like Tarou, while most had been complete strangers in this life and the last world. Fighting with them would be a waste of his time and energy...none of them could truly hurt him, but combined they might delay him long enough for the Shogun to call upon something far worse, so he elected to try reasoning with them in the hopes that a few might still be capable of understanding.

"I'm going to kill your Shogun," he announced matter-of-factly, "I can't be stopped, it's suicide to try me, but I have no quarrel with any of you, so if you leave now I won't come after you. Please consider what you do before you try this...you have no idea what I'm capable of, and if any of you remember what it was once like to be human..."

Tarou transformed to his cursed form without the benefit of cold water and roared like the raging Bull Minotaur that he resembled. Ryoga could actually remember a time when he had been impressed with the combination of Bull, Eagle, Crane, Yeti, and Eel that came barreling towards him like an unliving engine of destruction as if nothing could stand in his wake, which was foolish on his part as Ryoga had grown beyond concern for any such limited attack form.

With his outstretched left hand he aimed a finger at the point between the Bull-  
Man's eyes where the skull was weakest and shattered it as he might a boulder. With his other hand he slammed his palm into the muscular chest of the creature and Tarou went flying across the room as if rocket propelled, not only slamming into the nearest wall but going all the way through it. Even if he was undead, the blow alone pulverized all the muscle, bone and nerve tissues throughout the Bull-man's body, killing him once again in a manner that was altogether excessively gruesome, but had been intended to form an abject lesson for the others.

Unfortunately Ryoga sensed an attack at his rear flank and continued his motion into a spin that brought him around in time to dodge a hurtling Sezenin Mikado. His hand shot forward like a blade and neatly severed the undead Ice Skater's head from his body, and then Ryoga back-fisted Ryu Kummon hard enough to drive him head-first through the ceiling.

"Baka," Ryoga exclaimed, realizing that he was going to have to do this the hard way...

"I know that it sounds like a dubious strategy," Ekko was explaining to the assembled teenagers, "But this evil has gone too far to be countered by more conventional methods, and I have calculated to the last permeable decimal point the exact nature of the forces that must be employed if we are to save not just this world but all of reality itself on the various alternate timelines that we hail from."

"I must reluctantly concur with Ekko's findings," Tenko noted, "My grandmother, Washu, conducted her own independent study of a polyvariable disturbance that was detected in the timestream. This is far worse than that occasion when father and the others had to travel back in time to deal with the vicious space criminal known as Cain. I fear that without such drastic measures as have been proposed there will be no home for us to return back to...and no us either. Reality itself will become unraveled like a ball of yarn as the Superstring of creation will fail to loop back on itself. Time and space will collapse back into the primal chaos from which reality itself was born, so as you can see this goes beyond any petty question concerning our own petty welfare."

"Hey, what's so petty about our welfare, huh?" Silver asked in a voice of challenged, "You really expect us to believe that the only hope we have of saving the Multiverse is to strap ourselves into some doohickey that was used to summon up a demon? Get real here! We weren't born just five minutes ago..."

"Actually in terms of time the point at which we are born could just as well be five minutes in the past as five thousand years in the scope of the greater creation," Veil noted, "I, too, must reluctantly concur that our participation in this endeavor is absolutely paramount, though I confess to being no more desirous of this exercise as are any of you, and for much the same understandable reasons."

"All comes down to a matter of survival," Toltir mused offhandedly, "Yours and the Multiverse. Do this right and everybody wins (except the bad guys, but who gives a rats ass about them?). Do this the wrong way...you could speed up the rate of decomposition in this timeline. I suggest you choose carefully, and don't take any more risks with your safety than you have to."

"And what is your stake in all of this, Lord Neko," Nabiki asked suspiciously, "What draws you down from your high place to take such a personal interest in these matters?"

"Perhaps I just like the company," the Elder God smiled in a way that made several of the ladies present blush (and not just the ones who were presently sans clothing), "So many interesting faces, representing such a wide range of possibilities such as I once saw in each of your parents."

"Nice try," Nabiki said in droll sarcasm, "But my register comes up no sale."

"Oh, very well," Toltir sulked, "If you want to know the truth, if all of reality goes POOF, then I lose my favorite ball of string to play with. Eternity would get awfully dull without you mortals around to liven things up, so I'm unofficially volunteering my services as an outside consultant to help troubleshoot this little party that you're planning."

"Ah...not that we don't appreciate your interest in these affairs and all of that," Lylac noted, "But I'm still not clear why exactly we need to recreate the very machine that caused this whole mess in the first place? Isn't there another way to achieve the same effect?"

"Believe me, I have explored every option that I can come up with," Ekko replied, "But the numbers keep coming back to the Muni Hausen device as the best means of achieving the correct psychic frequencies and harmonics. To reverse the spell that was cast here twenty years ago will require the voluntary participation of exactly seventeen female warriors, which-by an amazing non-  
coincidence-just happens to be the number of female warriors who have been gathered to the time and location."

"Seventeen?" Yuan-Yen remarked, "But didn't you just get done telling us that it was twelve women who lost their lives here?"

"Indeed," Tenko replied, "But where twelve had died, sixteen may live, especially if we reconstruct the device for less lethal purposes than it was employed to originally accomplish."

"Are you saying that pendant-thingie planned this whole thing out in advance?" asked Rinse, who seemed no more pleased at the proposal than any of the others who were present, "And it roped us in because it thought we could balance out those guys who died doing the exact same thing? Excuse me for asking this, BUT ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"I must agree with Darling that this seems needlessly risky," Atari remarked, sparing a glance towards Ryeka as she added, "For all of us, and in no way shape or form do I wish to risk my Darling to such a risky endeavor."

"Same goes for me," Ryeka agreed, "Rinse-chan shouldn't have to be a part of any dumb gizmo that sucks souls and summons demons. Come up with a different plan, then call us when you're ready."

"Guys..." Rinse felt oddly touched, but her Saotome pride made her speak out to say, "It's not about the risk involved...it's the whole idea of having to go through something like that...I mean...it's not that I'm afraid to do my part and all that...but..."

"I understand," Ekko replied with a slight nod, "You're wondering why this is necessary, and what we hope to accomplish."

"To put it mildly, yes," said a skeptical Tachi.

"I can answer that one," Lamyra replied, turning to the remains of the former device of Muni Hausen, "My parents have explained it to me often enough that I know the story as if I had physically been there."

"Well, don't keep the rest of us in the dark, lady," Tinkerbell asked musically, "What's the full story?"

Lamyra lowered her gaze and said, "The heroes who died here were my father's friends, and one of them was his iinazuke. Tendo Natsume was their chosen leader because she was the Chosen, the slayer of Vampire...a fancy name for one designated by birth to kill the lawless tribes of the Undead that threaten the innocent and destroy the fine balance that must exist between the worlds of Mortals and Immortals. Contrary to myth and legend, not all Vampires are evil, just as we of the Beast Realms are neither friends nor enemies to ordinary people, and some Undead even help mankind, as is their preference. The Slayer exists to maintain the balance whenever one of the Dark tribes strays into the realm of the forbidden and violates the sacred pact between the realms of Day and Night.. It is not the total elimination of all dark things that is their purpose but rather to maintain equilibrium when a crime against life itself is committed."

"I see," Watazashi mused, "One woman could not possibly hope to slay all the Vampires and Undead creatures of the world, but she can certainly deal with those who expose themselves by engaging in criminal activities against the innocent."

"Indeed," Lamyra noted sadly, "But this Slayer failed in her ultimate duty and succumbed to the evil plans of Gosunkuji, the Shogun of the Dark, and with her fell twelve other heroes, one of whom was transformed by this machine into a minion of evil, whom my father eventually had to eliminate for the good of all surviving people."

"Failed?" Nabiki mused, "Not really. On your timeline, perhaps, the outcome amounted to failure, but that's the way it is with the timelines, you know. Every moment of our waking existence is divided up between alternate pathways and choices, some of which lead to dead ends, others to victory and glory."

"Victory and glory?" Ranko asked.

Nabiki gave a soft laugh, "Excuse me, niece...I must have spent way too much time around your father, I'm even starting to talk a little like him...a bad habit that's hard to avoid when you've seen first hand the result of Ranma-kun's many battles. What I meant to say is that for every successful outcome there are many possible negative outcomes that could result from a given situation. A hero makes the situation work for them, otherwise they just become victims, like the rest of the common herd that they're charged with protecting..."

"I think I understand you, Auntie," Kama Sutra remarked in a surprisingly thoughtful tone of voice, "A person makes a conscious decision to turn right or left and this can affect the outcome of some crucial event that impacts upon the rest of their destiny. It's like in an old parable that my father once taught me of the two Samurai who face each other in mortal combat. In one possible future one man lives and the other dies, in the second the opposite occurs, while in a third they both die, and this, in turn, leads to a chain of events that might affect a larger destiny, such as the rise or fall of the Tokugawa dynasty, or of the Meiji restoration, both troublesome times that had many different possible outcomes."

"Only this involved the fate of twelve heroes, and one of them closely allied to the Temporal Nexus of this plane," Tsuyori said, "My father."

"Exactly," Lamyra replied, "Twelve of the finest heroes of their generation, only what you may not already know is that at least three of those fallen were Senshi, and their lives were more powerful than that of ordinary humans. Being aligned with the stars and planets made the spell even more powerful than it would have otherwise been, which is why this entire dimension succumbed to the pall of unparalleled evil."

"In truth it was always theoretically possible to find a timeline that went this far off track," Nabiki noted, "But even on timelines where heroes lose the fight, reality has a means of righting things out and arranging to restore the balance between Order and Entropy. So while a hero may fall, another will rise to take their place, or events will shape themselves in such a way that the need for heroes is negated. Only that didn't happen on this timeline, and instead of reality repairing the breach, the breach grew in size and scope to where it now threatens the imminent collapse of this and every other timeline. This can only occur if some event of unmatched anarchy were to disrupt the normal flow of time along the lines of these parallel worlds...such an event as caused by a servant of Entropy running loose with the means of altering world to suit his dimensia."

"Correct beautiful," Toltir smirked, "And you know the trouble-making jerk in question who started all of this, right?"

"We briefly had him on our monitors when we detected his activities screwing up the timelines in the L5E sector," Nabiki said grimly, "A twisted, evil bastard who went by the name of Ryo Gosunkuji, who gained possession of a pendant very much like yours and used it to pursue his insane vendetta against the line of Hibiki Ryoga."

"It was obsessive vengeance against the Ryoga of his world that caused his mad vendetta in the first place," Toltir noted, "He tore up quite a lot of territory before being finally brought to heel, but the consequences of his ruckus was the dimensional instability we're now faced with. Since the Pendant was only the facilitator obeying the will of a true madman, it was serving the will of Entropy for a time, but afterwards Yggdrasil was able to reassert control and has been using it every since to attempt to repair the damage to the timelines."

"But I thought this thing sat among the treasures of the Amazons for hundreds of years," Ranko pointed out.

"It did," the Elder God replied, "Or rather one version of it had, but once the disaster occurred, all versions of the pendant on the various parallel frames were immediately put on full notice. The pendant Gosunkuji was using is an almost exact copy of the one you have there, little lady, forged rather amateurishly and in great haste by a Saotome named Ryo, who had a pretty strong reason for making such a device, though I doubt he ever knew of its real potential."

"A Saotome created this?" Ranko touched the pendant and blinked.

"Yeah, only he used a piece of the Nanban Mirror as the core basis," Toltir elaborated, "A piece broken off by a certain lady of the Tendo line, who will go nameless for the moment..."

"Ah...yeah," Nabiki looked away with an uneasy expression, "Funny about how that happened..."

"The Mirror itself was at one time part of a much larger matrix created to span the avenues of space and time," Toltir continued, "But it was captured in the aspect of sorrow by the person who once owned it, and by turns it wound up in Amazon possession, in the line of Cologne, who was descended from its original user."

"Wait a minute," Tachi said, "Do you mean to say that the reason this thing goes after the children of the Saotome and Tendo lines..."

"Not to mention those of us who are also the sons and daughters of Shampoo," Lylac added.

"Right," Silver averred, "Now I get it...the thing has some kinda resonance thingie that links with us on some level, right?"

"That would make perfect sense," Akira noted, "According to you people, the Pendant only goes after the near equivalents to one of our family lines..."

"Like it was selecting candidates who could nearly approximate the people who died here," Yuan-Yen concluded.

"That's it exactly," Veil announced, "Only there is another reason why you each were selected to stand together for this mission. This device not only ravished their bodies and stole their life essence, it trapped their souls within its housing, preventing them from moving on into their next lives, a violation of the most basic protocols of the Life Program itself. It was an Anti-Life equation that was used to subvert Yggdrasil's primary Soul Protection Codes, and that is why the Celestial Computer used the Pendant to perform all of this. You are all needed to insure the preservation of Cosmic Order against that which would reduce everything to its primal state of Entropy..."

"All right," Ranko sighed, "Enough with the sales pitch...you've sold us on it already. Looks like we gotta play the heroes again, even if it is at the cost of whatever's left of our dignity."

"Not to mention the risk to our lives and well being that is involved in such an undertaking," Watazashi mused, then exchanged a look with Yuan-Yen before adding, "But that sort of comes with the job title, and what is a heroine if she is not prepared to risk everything for the sake of her loved ones?"

"I don't like this," Rinse's shoulders slumped, "But I guess we don't really have any choice about it, do we?"

"Just stand around and watch the whole shebang go kabluoey," Silver glanced at Akira, "I got no problem with saving the world every now and then, but what about Akira-kun? What's his part in all of this?"

"Other than standing around and looking handsome?" Tenko smiled, "We need at least one male element to help complete the circuit on the equation, which is why there's one more female unit in addition to the original twelve that Yggdrasil originally selected."

"Only there is a slight miscalculation in the primary equation," Ekko added, "Which is why there will be seventeen of us instead of thirteen. The additional four female elements will help to stabilize the resultant pattern and give us greater control of the energy stream itself."

"Those four elements meaning us?" Lylac remarked before rolling her eyes, "Why is it that I could see this coming..."

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Ekko smiling on her, a rare occurrence in her normally reserved and super-intellectual friend, just as the fond twinkle in her blue eyes made her seem like a very different Ekko from the one whom Lylac had thought she had grown up with.

"You won't be alone in this, and neither will I," the redhead averred softly, "We do this together, and we share the risk that comes with the glory."

"Glory it is then," Ryeka made a fist and shook it for emphasis, "If Rinse-chan says we gotta do it, then I'm gonna be right there beside her all the way!"

"That certainly goes for me as well," Atari added firmly, "Where Darling goes, there go I, as any dutiful wife must do for her beloved."

"Guys..." Rinse was more deeply moved than she could comfortably express, so she turned to her cousin and said, "Tachi...?"

Tachi lowered her eyes and took a moment before lifting them again, but then there was clear resolve there as she declared, "Like they say, we're in this together, and I won't let you go anywhere without me being there beside you."

"Of course we'll do our part," Tsuyori smiled.

"The Miroku stand together with their allies through thick and thin," Kama Sutra declared proudly, "And besides...this sounds like it could be a lot of fun."

"Well," Kinko shrugged both arms and wings together, "I guess if you guys are in, then you can count me in as well. Sounds like a lot of fuss and feathers, but I'm a part of the team, and if I can help out, then you know I'll be there right beside you."

"Sisters," Lamyra smiled, then bowed her head and said, "Arigato...in doing this you redeem my father's honor, and it will be my honor to serve with you as we redeem an entire Cosmos."

"Swell," Tinkerbell remarked from overhead where she was hovering above the crowd, "Only I think you guys are missing out on one thing...the device is scrap. You couldn't use that thing to open a can of diet soda...like how are we gonna repair all of this damage?"

"Leave that to me," Veil replied, "On the way here I devised a spell that can be used to reshape the fundamental structure of this device and alter its basic functions to form a new pattern. It will take me a few moments to prepare myself, but once the spell is cast the device will be remade into the instrument of salvation that will serve Yggdrasil's protocols and reinforce the structural programming of this entire dimension."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ranko asked, "An engraved invitation?"

"She only needs a few minutes of silence to concentrate," Ekko explained, "But in that time she will be vulnerable to attack, which is why I suggest that the rest of us be on our guard in case of trouble."

"Yes," Lamyra agreed, "Mother went to kill the Shogun, but it may not be that easy for her and Ryoga-kun to accomplish this, and while the Shogun is still active he can and will act to prevent us from undoing the work of a lifetime, to say nothing of the ages of slumber during which his Master planned all of this..."

"His master?" Silver asked.

"Maelstrom," Toltir replied, "The Greater Dragon of Chaos, scion of Tiamat, the Queen Mother of all Dragons."

"Well," Tachi said nervously, "If we're going to be headed into a fight, it might help if we had some weapons..."

"Not to mention some clothes," Rinse winced, trying not to glance down at her own exposed anatomical perfection.

"Clothes I can't help you with," Yuan-Yen said, "At least not yet...but weapons..." she smiled and pulled out a bokken, which she tossed towards Tachi, who reflexively caught it, "You're talking to the daughter of the Master of Hidden Weapons."

"Where exactly do you hide a thing like that?" Ranko asked as she eyed her nominal cousin, thinking there wasn't a single stitch of concealment that could be detected.

"Trade secret," Yuan-Yen winked, "I store a lot of stuff up for emergencies, like a pocket dimension that has a larger capacity than what I could carry around with me out in the open."

"So why didn't you think to conceal a hidden cash purse while you were at it?" Watazashi asked.

"Ah..." Yuan-Yen blinked, assuming a very foolish expression.

"Neat!" Silver grinned, "You got a bicycle in there?"

Yuan-Yen smiled, reached behind herself, and suddenly pulled a large object out of seeming no where, which turned out to be a racing bicycle such as might be employed for professional motocross competition. With both hands she tossed this to Silver, would caught the light graphite compound frame in both hands, amazed at how light it felt when compared to a normal bicycle.

"Ah..." Silver said with a somewhat stunned expression, "I was only kidding about that part..."

"Never mind that," Rinse said practically, "If you're as good at this as Brand or Ivory, then you ought to be carrying a pair of butterfly knives in there, right?"

Yuan-Yen tossed a matched set of wide-but short-bladed sword-like objects that had specially ornate handguards, which Rinse caught with a broad grin as she said, "Thanks!"

"Don't mention it," Yuan-Yen glanced around, "Who's next?"

"Ah...Nunchaku?" Ranko asked, only to receive a pair that Bruce Lee would have envied, to which she blinked once and grinned.

"Tri-sectioned staff?" asked Tsuyori, only to receive it a moment later.

"A standard Bo will do," Akira asked, and promptly received.

"Chinese-style straight sword?" Kama Sutra inquired, and then caught up a very ornate looking weapon whose blade shone so perfectly that she knew at once it had been forged by a true master.

"Tonfa will do," Lylac suggested, and was pleased upon receiving a matched set of iron truncheons.

"Can I have a pair of eagle-claws?" Kinko asked, flexing her wings, "It's something I've trained with, and since I don't have any spatulas or cooking stuff like my older brother..."

"Here you go," Yuan-Yen said as she handed the winged girl a pair of matching "Tiger-Claws" style bracers.

Watazashi held up one of her trademark streamers and said, "I, of course, always carry one of these for special emergencies...but what of you, friend Tink?"

"Nothing for me," Tinkerbell replied, pulling out a matching set of double-  
bladed axes.

"I'm not even going to ask where you were carrying those," Silver shook her head and resumed her study of the unusual make of her new bicycle.

"I don't need any fancy weapons," Ryeka cracked her knuckles, "And neither does Tenko, if she's anything like my Oneechan back home."

"A Juraian is never unprepared for an emergency," Tenko turned to Ekko, "And what of you, Eileen? Will you choose to employ a weapon on this occasion?"

"I am a weapon," Ekko replied calmly, "But I, too, come prepared to meet any challenge that might arise here."

"Oh yeah?" Tinkerbell exclaimed as she turned her head sharply, "Well...what about those guys?"

The others turned to see what she was indicating, and-sure enough-they saw malevolent red eyes gleaming from the darkness of every hole and entryway in the ruined and desolate complex.

"Kuso," Silver exclaimed softly, "Tell me those guys aren't what I think they are?"

"They are Undead," Lamyra said, "More minions of the Shogun."

"I asked you not to tell me that!" Silver winced as she and the others assumed defensive postures.

"Well now," Toltir smiled as he took notice of the impending battle, "This looks like it might get interesting."

"I don't like the way you put that," noted Nabiki, who flexed her hands and scanned the horde of night-shadowed creatures that seemed about to attack her wards preparing inwardly to do her part to improve the odds in their favor.

"Veil," Ekko murmured softly, "Begin your spell, the rest of us will cover for you."

"Agreed," Veil replied, closing her eyes and relaxing her pose as she turned away from the impending menace to regard the machine, gathering up her power as her mind filled with the appropriate software equations."

"Enemies to the right and left of us," Watazashi mused, "And up above. I suggest we also be wary of the ground at our feet as it might hold extra hazards."

"Especially considering that most of us are barefoot," Yuan-Yen murmured faintly, "Next time I'm definitely packing away an extra pair of sandals..."

"Ironic when you think of it," Tachi mused, "Risking our hides to protect a machine that will no doubt be as compromising as anything intended towards us by these creatures."

"Either way we're fucked," Rinse agreed grimly.

"What a coincidence," Kama Sutra smiled, "That's one of my favorite positions...and Tsu-chan's as well."

"No comment," Tsuyori said with a hint of faint amusement.

Ranko listened to all of this as she rolled her eyes and thought that maybe being an only child wasn't so bad after all, one second before the creatures attacked them...

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Creatures of the Nightlife: shadowmane

The Battle Royale begins in earnest as things wind up to a head, but will they climax or merely peter out without achieving satisfaction? You be the judge of that, gentle readers, when things resume again next chapter...and I rather think you'll want to be there if you've stuck with me this far...

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	15. Chapter 15

RanSquares13

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
with ideas and personalities helpfully supplied by fellow fanfic writers Nicole Manders (Dreiser), Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers)

Chapter Thirteen.

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome-17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi Native to this Continuum.

Ranma Saotome-38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo-38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox

The Lord of Chaos went down hard and dug a huge crater in the spot where he landed. Ranma alighted on the edge outside of this crater and surveyed the carnage that had already been kicked up by their battle, then remarked aloud, "What a mess. Sure hope nobody sues us for all of this."

"No one left to sue," Beast Ranma replied, "They did away with lawyers when they got rid of the rest of civilization."

"And you don't call this place a paradise?" Timecop Ranma smirked before watching as the Lord of Chaos dug his way out from the crater, "Man, he's tough! And I thought Kuno was persistent in the old days..."

"Never did know when to call it quits," Beast Ranma agreed, "Which is why he makes such an excellent servant for the Shogun."

"With his kind of ego?" Timecop Ranma asked, "That's hard to swallow!

The Lord of Chaos crossed his arms across his burly chest and suddenly the energies began to gather around him as the sky above darkened and became stormier. His huge frame began to glow and his eyes lit up with internal fires. With a bellow that shook the heavens and the earth he reared back and suddenly seemed to tower over everything, his mass filling out as his size increased to gigantic stature.

"Whoah," Timecop Ranma murmured softly, "He really looks pissed now."

"No fooling," Beast Ranma replied, "What was your first clue?"

The Lord of Chaos grew to fifteen meters height, then forty, then a hundred, becoming as large as a mountain as he towered above the impudent insects who dared to challenge his might. The energies gathered within him rose to a fever pitch as he prepared to unleash his most devastating attack so far. Both Ranma edged away slightly, taking defensive stances and preparing for the onslaught.

"Any last words, buddy?" Beast Ranma asked.

"Yeah," Timecop Ranma replied, "Never eat before you go swimming."

Despite himself Beast Ranma smirked, "I was gonna recommend the one about Akane's cooking, but I guess you already know that one."

"Hell, I lived with her for two years before we were married," Timecop Ranma replied, "If I could survive that, then this should be a cake walk."

"Wanna take a bet on that?" Beast Ranma asked one second before the wrath of Hell itself descended upon them...

The battle that raged inside the underground complex was well underway with the Time-crossed kids on one side and a horde of evil undead on the other. Because they had been cautioned by Lamyra not to make physical contact with the enemy, so the Martial Artists had a silent agreement to inflict the maximum damage from a distance, which was why even Akira fought with a bo staff instead of using bare hands, as was his usual preference.

Ranko fought with a Nunchaku that flew so fast that it was nearly invisible with the naked eye, but the effect it had was measured in the speed with which the bodies started flying whenever she got near to an assailant. Tachi Kuno had a similar effect with the speed of her bokken, which was backed with the skill and power of a trained Mistress of Nampo, which gave her wood the effect of steel, and thensome. By contrast Rinse's Butterfly Swords blazed a trail of real steel that carved havoc wherever they sliced, and with such great force that the undead creatures were propelled away from her before they even had the chance to commence with bleeding or falling apart in a messy kind of way. Those whom she did not slice were zapped by lightning bolts or fried by energy blasts by the air support that was covering her backside.

Similarly a tri-sectioned staff being wielded by Tsuyori was keeping a dozen zombies at bay while her sister, Kama Sutra, wielded a Chinese straight sword with great facility, as uninhibited as they were unencumbered by excess apparel. This was a condition that many of the other girls fought under, such as Silver herself, who had only a bicycle to use for a weapon, which was hardly an ideal weapon but was all she had to work with. As was true of any well-trained Saotome, however, she made good use of what she had on hand, even though the flaunting of her well-toned flesh drew the hungry undead on like a dinner bell. Yet though her weapon of choice was unorthodox, it had a lot of heft and made a dent against anything that came within her reach.

A lack of clothing did not inhibit Yuan-Yen or Watazashi, who fought side-by-  
side with long-range distance weapons-such as the latter's ribbon and the formers chains and other self-contained hardware that could strike from afar-and thus fell the fast-moving demonic creatures hanging back behind their bolder counterparts, insuring a thinning of the enemy ranks, while above their heads Tinkerbell discouraged any undead from pressing in too closely, her deadly axes reducing a rotting undead zombie or vampire to so much disintegrating kindling.

Of those who did have either clothing or some form of protection, Lylac was doing her best to ply her steel tonfas like hammers to bat away the opposition, while Lamyra herself covered the purple haired girl's backside with a sharp-  
bladed katana that more than did the trick of protecting their quarter of the fight. This was more than matched by Princess Tenko, whose Juraian armor and energy blade tore a bloody swath through even enemies who were not within reach of a conventional weapon.

But by far the most effective of the defenders was Ekko herself, whose outer clothing had been replaced by a compact form of forcefield-enhanced armor, and instead of weapons she used her gloved fists with deadly effectiveness, her blows backed by the power of a Titaness and her speed so great that she was not even a blur in the moment before her attacks. Unlike the others, she fought a more coordinated battle, shoring up weak areas and coming to the aid of anyone who needed her assistance, keeping the creatures from pressing in too strong and overwhelming the defenders.

Lastly there was Kinko, the naked winged avenger, who-despite her youth-employed her metal claws with no less effectiveness than any of the others, snatching enemies from the air like a swooping hawk with such savagery and speed that there was never even a chance of reprisal.

Holding back from the fray but no less essential to their defense was Tendo Nabiki, whose skills as a Lore Master allowed her to silently weave a spell of defense that she crafted upon summoning the elements that surrounded them. With perceptions more finely honed than those of an ordinary mortal, seeking the positive light amid the gloom and darkness of the chamber and drawing it into while her hands as they made complicated motions in the air. All at once she gathered the power in her hands and cast the spell as a Glyph of Air formed in the space before her, and all at once a wave of light shot out from her person to form a globe of radiance that engulfed both defenders and their attackers in the same potent incandescence. For the defenders it was like being enfolded into the warm and gentle arms of a mother, but for their enemies the sudden shock of positively polarized energy was like being bathed in the fires of creation, and they instantly began to fall apart as the negatively charged energies binding them together were dispersed, turning them from dead to undead as though the sun itself had erupted within the chamber.

"Whoah," murmured Ranko as she-like all of the other human fighters in the chamber-reflexively closed her eyes to protect herself from momentary flash-  
blindness.

A moment later the flash of energy subsided, leaving the somewhat confounded teenagers to blink and look around at the sudden loss of their assailants. In the sudden silence that prevailed, Lamyra called out, "Is anyone hurt? Did anyone make physical contact with the enemy? If you had any piece of them touched your skin you'll need immediate healing! This is serious, people...it's not just their claws and teeth that can hurt you, their saliva and blood carries an infectious agent that's very fast-acting, and only the Beast folk are immune to this toxin!"

"Everyone check the person nearest to you," Nabiki called out, "Any rash or burns, report them immediately, and let's not be macho about this, people! Even a small scratch has the potential to be deadly!"

The naked teenagers hastily set about scanning one another while Lylac had a somewhat more difficult time insuring that she herself had not made contact with some part of their assailant. As Tenko and Ryeka had been protected by personal forcefields there was not as much concern for their welfare, but after a diligent scrutiny everyone had been given a clean bill of health...everyone but Kinko, who found a wicked yellow scorching wound near to her left shoulder, which was badly discolored around the edges as though acid had been spilled on that portion of her body.

"Gak!" Kinko shuddered as she felt the creeping numbness of her wound, "What the hell is this stuff?"

"Hold still," Kama Sutra urged, coming to stand beside her and placing firm hands to grip the arm while Tsuyori raised her hands over the area and began to chant softly.

"Here, let me use this," Tenko urged as she came up to join them, producing a vial in the palm of one hand, "It's one of Grandmother's inventions, and it's effective against all wounds, including the spiritual toxins that I sensed these creatures were comprised of."

"Go for it, Sis," Ryeka urged as Tenko poured the contents of the vial upon the wound, then stood back while Tsuyori resumed her chanting, only now the discoloration began to fade as the substance seemed to flow into the skin. A moment later Tsuyori's hands began to glow faintly, and then the wound was bathed in this radiance, vanishing into the light for a moment before fading away, revealing healthy skin that had replaced the discoloration.

Kinko gave a sigh of relief and said, "Thank...I needed that...Mmph?" she exclaimed as Tsuyori cupped her face in both hands and drew her in for a kiss on the mouth that sent a different kind of tingling surging up and down the length of her body.

"And I needed that," the Miroku Ninja replied as she let the somewhat dazed Kinko go, "You should feel your strength return in another few moments. Fortunately the curse within the wound was expelled before it had time to merge with your own natural curse. Your resistance to the infection saved you, proving that you are an Angel in spirit as well as body."

"Ah...sure thing," Kinko blinked her eyes, deciding then and there that she liked the Miroku way of saying thank you!

"Is that it?" Ranko glanced around, "Nothing more's gonna pop out of the woodwork and bother us?"

"I sure hope so," Silver replied, setting down the bicycle that she had half-  
carried in fear of another attack, "Mom and Dad are never gonna believe this one...matter of fact, if I ever even told them about it they'd probably ground me until I was older than Akira!"

"Very likely," Akira nodded, blushing faintly as he had inadvertently glanced Silver's way and caught himself admiring her handsome profile, as well as breathing thanks that she herself had not been infected.

"If you are quite done making all that unpleasant racket," said a lone voice that drew all of their attention, "I should like to get back to finishing this spell that I've been crafting"

"So that's what you've been doing all this time, lady," Ryeka remarked as she glanced at the solitary Veil, who had been facing towards the machine the whole time of the conflict, "And here I thought you were just standing around while we did all the hard work."

"You should know better than that, Sister," Tenko chided, the paused before saying, "Or should you? Do I take it you do not know Veil on your particular timeline?"

"Well," the blue-haired Ryeka scratched her wild mane of hair for a moment before saying, "Not really...should I?"

"Only if you want to know if there is a Kami-Sama," Lylac said in some amusement, "Veil happens to be his granddaughter."

"Granddaughter?" Yuan-Yen scowled, "You expecting us to believe that she's divine or something?"

"Heaven sent would be more like it," Ekko replied, turning an indulgent smile towards the slender girl with the wheat-colored hair, "Are you almost finished assimilating those equations, Veil-chan?"

"I am almost ready," Veil replied, slowly raising her arms over her head and posing herself in a dramatic position.

"This should be something to see," Nabiki mused, "Give the lady some room, people."

"Why?" Tachi asked, "Do you know something we don't, Mother?"

Nabiki gave a half-smile of amusement, "My dear...the answer to that would probably take a lifetime to recount, but let's just say I've seen her mother in action, and I'm willing to bet a month of your allowance that the next few minutes will be interesting ones, even by my fairly jaded standards."

"Oboy," Tinkerbell blinked her eyes, "I sure feel something rising up in her!"

"As do I," concurred Atari, "Whatever is about to happen, I think it would be best to heed the advise and stand away so that we do not interfere with the summoning process."

"You do not need to convince me of the wisdom in this advise," Watazashi replied, then blinked her eyes and said, "Oh my...that certainly is something...!"

Ryoga finished off the last of his playmates, sending the undead back to where they belonged among the restful dead, then at last he turned and surveyed the emptied chamber looking to see if there were any threats to await him.

"Not too bad," Megumi complimented from where she hovered overhead, having shared in a part of the fighting while coyly watching the leather-clad Ryoga from above, "You're definitely a lot better than the Ryoga that I once knew."

"Well, I've been through a few changes myself," Ryoga shrugged, "Nothing to boast about, but I've been partners with Ranma for a few years now, and neither one of us is quite the same way we used to be as kids."

"So I've noticed," Megumi glanced to the side, "I just hope you've changed enough to handle what's beyond that door."

Ryoga saw what she was looking at, a large iron portal that was ornately carved with the life-sized images of people writhing in torment being tortured by demons in one of the Hells of ancient mythology and asked, "What's beyond there?"

"Hell itself," Megumi replied, "And the Shogun of the Dark."

"I've been through Hell before," Ryoga's handsome expression darkened, "Both literally and physically, and it almost felt like home after a while."

"Not like this," Megumi hinted darkly, "The Ryoga I knew would never have been able to brazen the sights and sensations that lurk beyond that dark portal. The question is, will you be made of sterner stuff?"

"Guess there's only one way to find out," Ryoga said as he walked up to the iron portal, scanned it stoically for a long moment, then pressed his finger up against the metal and cried, "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"

Instantly the metal fractured into a thousand different fragments which all flew apart mere seconds later, the different pieces somehow dissolving into writhing shades that fled into the ebony night-dark chamber as though they were the fleeing souls of the long tormented. Ryoga watched these spirits depart, then brought his hands together and gave a silent prayer for the departed.

Megumi floated up alongside Ryoga and said, "That was pretty spectacular...but I thought that move only worked on stone."

"I've had time to refine it somewhat," Ryoga replied, then stepped through the empty frame into the dark mouth of a cavern, where he halted in mid-step, seeing new sights beyond that defied his limited powers of imagination.

The room they were now in had a reddish illumination and was as warm as furnace with writhing bodies all around, some human, some demonic. Naked women were being humped and stimulated by tentacled monsters, many bestial and grotesque creatures who boasted appendages where none should be present. It was a scene of carnal debauchery as the smell of heady sensuality, the mix of sweaty bodies and the ripe perfume of many orgasms assaulted the nostrils with the force of a mule kick, even as the sight alone caused Ryoga to reach for his nose to stave off an imminent bleeding.

"Whoah!" Megumi said as she moved in time to catch him before he could faint, "Guess that answers that question! You're just like the Ryoga that I remember."

"Wh-what is this place?" Ryoga gasped as he regained control over his faculties and forced himself to look away from the debauchery that was all around them.

"Merely an Ante-chamber of the true Hell," Megumi replied, "These people won't bother us, they're too wrapped up in their own affairs to even notice."

Ryoga managed to regain even more self-control, enough so that he could scan the ranks of the sex-obsessed creatures without feeling light-headed, (though the stirrings some of these sights inspired in him made him think fervently of his wife, Akari), "I don't get it...are these people being tortured by these creatures?"

"Do they look like they're suffering to you?" Megumi smirked, "No one's actually being tortured here...these are the shades of women and men who have given themselves completely over to the Shogun and perform for his jaded amusement. They can't really suffer since they're already dead, but in the semblance of flesh that they've been given they can experience carnal pleasure...and some pain. This is what they do for fun in their off hours..."

"Fun?" Ryoga repeated with a dubious expression.

"Sure," Megumi shrugged, "Immortality's no fun if you can't break up the monotony once in a while, and when you can't really die any more, the only thing that can make you feel truly alive is to give yourself over to self-indulgence. It's one of the ways in which both Gods and Devils share a taste for tender young things as mortal women have a spark of the divine within them...which also applies to young guys, I might add, but I'm flexible enough and can go both ways myself."

Ryoga turned to the hovering green-haired woman in the slinky outfit and said, "You mean you...have a lot in common with these creatures?"

"Why be surprised?" Megumi flexed her arms behind her head, which shoved her ample chest forward, forcing Ryoga to take note of her cleavage, "We of the Beast Realms have our own ways of dealing with monotony, but that's neither here nor there right now. We have to get beyond this point in order to reach the Shogun.""

"Right," Ryoga sternly forced himself to look away from the tempting Megumi and the even more distracting sights that surrounded them as he sought intuitively for the means of exiting the chamber. His normal lack of a direction sense actually became an advantage here since the weird otherworldly atmosphere would have confounded ordinary senses. His innate ability to sense strong and weak concentrations of energy showed him where the flow was actually headed, and so he set off in that direction, accompanied by the slinky Megumi, feeling the pull of warm sensualism give way to a much darker and foreboding sense of ennui that lay before them.

The corridor they selected opened out onto a huge cavernous pit that seemed to go on for a mile downward in a spiraling staircase, at the center of which was a strange writhing column that appeared to be made of flesh stretching up towards the ceiling far overhead. Ryoga paused to gaze at this before asking, "That's...not actually what it looks like, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," Megumi said darkly, "That living mass is composed of the flesh of millions of people who died as a consequence of the Dragon's Ascension. Their life energy has gone into feeding Maelstrom's dark hunger as he hibernates and awaits his time of awakening, which is due any time now."

"How horrible," Ryoga said in fervent abhorrence, "All those people died because of Gosunkugi?"

"It gets worse," Megumi cautioned, "Their bodies are linked together in a mass, but their minds are filled with the images of Hell itself as projected into a thousand-thousand different aspects. These people are trapped in mind and spirit and prevented from evolving to a higher consciousness because of the power of the Hell Mount at the very base of the column."

"Hell Mount?" Ryoga asked, "I don't like the sound of that..."

"With good reason," Megumi informed him, "They're dimensional fissures that sometimes well up from the Chthonic regions of the Earth, literal doorways to other realms where the rules of time and space are very different from what you might call familiar. A Hell Mount is literally a gateway into one of the darker dimensions inhabited by creatures of the Abyss. It's the source of much of the Shogun's dark power (but by no means his only power source) and it was the reason that the Slayer was chosen to defend the Earth Realm at this particular juncture. Unfortunately Natsume failed in her ultimate mission and instead became a victim of the very event that the Shogun used to call upon the Dragon's ascension."

"You keep mentioning a dragon," Ryoga frowned.

"Maelstrom," Megumi whispered the name with obvious loathing, "He's the last of his kind...a truly dark and terrible being who hates and fears humanity and sought your race's ultimate destruction. Most Dragons are benevolent creatures, but Maelstrom is an ancient evil True Dragon who always saw humankind as his enemy and has sought dominion over the planet for precisely the reason of seeing to the utter annihilation of your entire species."

"And what about you?" Ryoga asked.

"Well," Megumi glanced away, "I'm half-human on my mother's side, but we Beasts have learned to live alongside humanity, as did most Dragons during the Age of Iron. The True Dragons were aloof to mortal affairs and sought to leave the world of men behind when humanity became too numerous and too many of their hiding places were exposed to human intrusions. Maelstrom believed that humanity would exterminate dragonkind if left to your own devices and urged his brothers to unite behind his quest, but they would have nothing to do with him, so he was left alone for many millennia and came to believe that he was the last of all True Dragons."

"Is that why he went mad?" Ryoga asked grimly, "Because he was alone?"

"Well, that and his ingrown personality," Megumi shrugged, "Not everyone goes mad from being alone, and most of us find somebody special who can make Immortality itself a whole lot more bearable, otherwise we might all be locked in our own private Hells...and you probably well know, being Ryoga."

Ryoga considered that for a long pause of several seconds, then said, "The one who saved you from loneliness'...was Ranma?"

"Bingo," Megumi smiled, "You're not as dumb as you-LOOK OUT!"

"Wha-?" Ryoga started to ask when the sense of overwhelming danger caused him to move with blinding fluidity as a massive ax cleaved the space where he and Megumi had been standing. Had been because he grabbed the levitating beast woman and vaulted out and away from the reach of a huge and hideous creature shaped roughly like a three-meter tall bat-winged Boar standing upright in studded armor. Ryoga noted this from where he had come to a halt clutching Megumi in his arms and glancing back at the creature over one shoulder.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, only semi-conscious of the buxomy woman he was holding close to his body.

"Ah..." Megumi forced herself to ignore her own baser instincts to cop a quick feel and replied, "That used to be an Amazon named Mousse, only now he's the guardian of the gateway to the Abyss and the Shogun's personal lap dog."

"A pig instead of a duck, huh?" Ryoga mused as he set Megumi down then cracked his knuckles, "At least this is a kind of evil I know how to deal with. The Shogun must be desperate to hire this loser to be his watchdog...uh...pig..."

"But he's not human any more!" Megumi hastily cautioned, "The technical term for it is...!"

Ryoga charged the creature, who responded by extending one arm from which rope-  
like appendages protruded, striking Ryoga full on and knocking the leather clad man out into empty space with the pit looming before him.

"Balrog," Megumi finished lamely, "Oh hell!"

She was airborne before the creature could turn to attack her, evading his tentacles with great ease as she was in no mood to be playful, accelerating to catch up with the plummeting Ryoga and catch him nimbly in her arms before he could collide with the pillar of flesh, and thus redirected their momentum in the direction that she had originally intended.

Ryoga was not even badly stunned by the blow, so he was fully able to appreciate the descent as layer after layer of the Hell Mount was revealed to him, showing him various realms of the cursed undead. By the time they passed by the level where those who allowed rage to cloud their judgement he was fairly braced to witness such horrors as naked bodies locked in grueling physical conflict, thinking to himself how close to being a resident of that Hell he had come himself before being saved from his berserker mindset by the love of Akari. At last they neared the bottom of the seemingly endless pit of darkness, at which point Megumi set him down on the metaphysical floor, though the surface was so smooth and inky black that it was almost impossible to tell that it was there beyond physical contact.

"Well, that didn't go too well for a first date," Megumi remarked as she remained hovering above the floor, "But next time don't take things for granted around here...especially down here! This place can kill you just by making you think you're dead, and even death isn't a sure end to the suffering here, as you can see from their example."

Ryoga looked up from very near to the base of the writhing pillar and saw what had not been apparent from his previous vantage point. The pillar seemed to go on for miles but had a snake-like contour, and when the end became apparent it had a curious bulbous look that could either be seen as the head of the python or else...

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ryoga winced, never having been fond of phallic references.

"Who says Hell doesn't have a sense of humor?" Megumi said grimly, "The good news is that we can free those poor devils if we manage to pull this off, but first we have to deal with Maelstrom and his pet Shogun."

"Right," Ryoga found it very easy to look away from the monstrous towering obscenity, "So...which way to we go from here...?"

Before he could even finish the question he sensed the movement to their right and again pulled Megumi out of the way, only this time moving swiftly to step into the attack and position himself well within the reach of the huge battle ax, which seemed large enough to slice a house in half, but the part that Ryoga gripped was the shaft, having avoided the blade part.

"Mousse, huh?" Ryoga said as he stared into the face of the struggling man-  
beast, "Gotta say, you've looked better."

The creature roared its outrage, but this time Ryoga was prepared for the titanic strength of the creature and shifted his own weight, digging his heels in and exerting his own efforts to overbalance the creature, and in less than an instant sent him tumbling backwards.

"That was easy enough," Ryoga remarked as he tossed the ax to one side.

"Don't get cocky!" Megumi warned, "He has a lot more in his arsenal than just one weapon!"

"Eh?" Ryoga started to ask when suddenly he was wrapped by jagged edged chains that bound his arms, yanking him off his feet in less than one second.

Just a fraction of an instant following this, Megumi found herself under attack from behind, her arms and limbs being wrapped by tentacles as a second creature loomed up to engulf her in their prehensile grip and thoroughly immobilize the Beast woman, who struggled in vain to free herself from their power.

"Oh great!" she groaned as she was born down to confront the horrific face of her assailant, "I hate blind dates! Ryoga?"

"I'm a bit busy!" Ryoga snarled as he snapped the chains and rolled to one side, barely in time to avoid being skewered by a second attack hurled from his opponent, "I'll be with you in a moment!"

"Well, don't take your bloody time about-MMMPH!" Megumi exclaimed as the Princess of the Beast world found her clothing was being stripped away and her every orifice was filled by one or more appendages. On the whole, she thought reflectively as she experienced the familiar sense of being raped by a multi-  
appendaged demons, it was looking to be one of those days, and her only ally in this affair was a cocky young man who reminded her a little too much of her husband...

"Ouch," Time-Cop Ranma remarked as he picked himself out of the crater he had found himself digging with his face, "Guess I picked a bad day to quit shaving..."

"You think?" Beast Ranma groaned, taking his own inventory to insure that all body parts were attached and in working order, "I guess we really pissed him off that time..."

"Well, don't look now," Time-Cop Ranma said as he started to get up, "But I don't think he's done being pissed. I can see this guy isn't gonna go down without an argument, so I'd better get serious because this is taking me way too much time, and I'm worried about Nabiki."

"Yeah, what's the deal with that?" Beast Ranma asked as he regained his own footing, keeping his attention focused upon the Lord of Chaos, who was slowly stalking in their direction, "You and Nabs are real tight?"

"Yeah, imagine that," Time-Cop Ranma remarked off-handedly while preparing to meet the next attack head-on, "Long story, of course, but let's just say we've both changed a lot from those days when she used to taunt, torment me and sell nude pictures of my girl-half. Seems like a million years ago since that time she conned me into posing for that calendar..."

"That happened to you too, huh?" Beast Ranma asked, "Imagine that."

"She ain't the same woman, not by a longshot," Time-Cop Ranma flexed his leather-clad arms and growled, "I'd die again to protect her. She's all I got left of my old life."

"Funny that," Beast Ranma remarked, "I had to kill my Nabiki after she got turned by the enemy."

"Oh?" Time-Cop Ranma remained resolutely focused on the Lord of Chaos, but there was a slight twitching of one eye-brow, "Any special reason?"

"Let's just say she had it coming," Beast Ranma replied, "I like your version a lot better."

The Lord of Chaos came to a full halt only a short distance away, then roared menacingly and flexed arms the size of gnarled Oak trees.

"Ohh..." Time-Cop Ranma fanned himself, "His breath!"

"Tell me about it," Beast Ranma replied, covering his own nostrils.

There was a gleam in the reddish eyes of the Lord of Chaos, and a curling of one lip that seemed so remarkably familiar that it suddenly gave Time-Cop Ranma an idea. In a low voice he asked, "Just how much of Kuno's personality is still in there?"

"Almost nothing human," Beast Ranma replied, "Which technically does include Kuno. Why?"

"I think you're wrong," Time-Cop Ranma smiled, arching his voice as he added, "I think there's a lot of the old Kuno in there. In fact, he even looks a lot like Kuno. Same puffed up pride, same pompous, preening self-importance, same conceit about his alleged popularity with women..."

The Lord of Chaos made a louder cry of outrage and his hands were suddenly filled once more with the fiery column of light that resembled a massively oversized bokken.

"Hey, you're right," Beast Ranma blinked, "Sounds like he does remember...and here I thought he had that Zen thing down to a science...y'know, the part about achieving a state of no-mind...he gets that without half trying."

The Lord of Chaos squeezed his massive hands on the column of light and it narrowed down to form an oversized katana.

"Say," Time-Cop Ranma remarked matter-of-factly, "You still turn into a girl these days?"

"What, the curse?" Beast Ranma smirked, "Never did bother getting a cure...never seemed like much point after the world went to hell in a hand basket. Besides, Megumi kinda likes the fact that I can switch-hit with her..."

"That's...as much detail of your sex life as I need to know right now," Time-Cop Ranma deferred, "Now all we need is some cold water."

"That's all?" Beast Ranma grinned and snapped his fingers, "Why didn't you ask?"

All at once the clouds above their head congealed, momentarily distracting the Lore of Chaos, who turned reddish eyes skyward, just before the sky opened up and started raining. The rain only lasted a few seconds, but when it passed instead of two black-haired and almost-identical looking men there were a pair of near-identical looking redheads, one in self-adjusting leather, the other in tight blue jeans and a tank-top with levis vest, exposing a bare midriff.

"Neat trick," the leather clad redhead complimented.

"It comes in handy on occasion," her Beast counterpart replied, then as one both girls assumed sultry and seductive poses that flaunted their sexuality, and in matching voices they said, "Hi there, Big Boy! You remember me?"

The Lord of Chaos faltered, and the energy sword dissolved in his massive hands as his jaw fell open and he gaped from one redhead to the other.

"Guess he does at that," Beast Ranma-chan remarked as she moved to one side, while her leather clad counterpart moved in the other direction.

"Good thing he never was too bright about some things," Time-Cop Ranma-chan added as she assumed a flanking position, causing the Lord of Chaos to divide his attention, turning from one redheaded, beauty to the other.

"But he certainly was predictable about one thing," Beast Ranma-chan smiled as she removed her vest and struck another sexy pose, "See anything you like, Kuno-  
chan?"

"Or how about this?" Time-Cop Ranma-chan slipped her jacket partway off and exposed her short-sleeved, black-shirted body to partial view, providing just enough of a skin show to make the Lord of Chaos's reddish eyes widen by more than a fraction. Ranma-chan winced at him and made a pouting face as she added, "What can I say, I'm hot stuff!"

"Accept no substitute," Beast Ranma-chan smiled as she bent down and pulled down on her tank-top to give a greater view of her cleavage, "I'm so hot over here...you wanna cum and cool me off?"

The Lord of Chaos turned his head back and forth from one girl to the other, his expression almost comical as he tried to take both girls in at the same time. At last he cried out and covered both eyes with his clawed hands, roaring his despair to the heavens as if to bewail the fates for his own indecision.

"Heh," Time-Cop Ranma-chan said as she assumed a fighting crouch, "He's so predictable."

"Like taking candy from a baby," Beast Ranma-chan grinned as she, too, prepared to launch an attack.

Unfortunately, before either one could take advantage of the Lord's seeming distraction, his massive body erupted with tentacles that projected out from both sides, whipping out to ensnare both redheads before either one had time to react to the unexpected ploy.

"GAH!" Beast Ranma-chan cried out, "Tentacles! Why does it always have to be Tentacles!"

"Hey, hands off, Bub!" Time-Cop Ranma-chan struggled in vain as she felt tentacles slithering up her leather jeans, the molecules of which flexed to accommodate their extra mass, "What are you doing down-MPH!" she screwed her eyes up to see the appendage that suddenly protruded into her open mouth.

"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after-GLMPH!" Beast Ranma-chan also found her ability to speak impeded by a raging Tentacle monster.

Both women were lifted into the air as the Lord of Chaos stretched out his arms towards the heavens, and it was hardly imagination on the pair of either Ranma that it seemed as if his roar was saying, "I MUST HAVE BOTH!" in a way that was entirely too evident to both of them at the moment...

"Wow!" Ranko exclaimed as she saw the gleaming structure take shape in the space formerly occupied by the dreaded and rusted Murder machine, almost crystalline in appearance though it slowly took more solid shape in an almost breathtaking beautiful configuration.

Veil continued to chant in a sing-song manner as her hands made complex waving motions while the others looked on in awe and amazement. As the vision gradually solidified into a fully manifest piece of articulate machinery it took on an almost aesthetic beauty, gleaming silver and gold like some newly polished circular sculpture, albeit that it had a practical efficiency to its over all form an obvious function. At the last she concluded her spellweaving chant with a prayer, then slowly opened her eyes and gazed upon her handiwork, seeming to nod in both satisfaction and resignation at her achievement.

"Neat!" Kinko exclaimed in delight, her eyes sparkling with appreciation as she studied the gleaming device with great interest.

"I don't quite believe it," Nabiki murmured softly, her normally jaded tones showing rare awe, disbelief and wonder, "And I'm pretty sure I don't want to!"

"Well done," Ekko nodded, obviously pleased with the restoration of the device in question, "I see you followed my calculations precisely and made the necessary improvements that I specified."

"Yes," Veil replied, lowering her hands, "Your calculations were most precise and very helpful in altering this thing of death into the possible salvation of this dimension. If it works as it is supposed to then we will accomplish great things when it is mounted and fully activated. My Aunt Skuld would be both proud and appalled at what we have accomplished."

"Whoah, hold up a bit," Silver looked askance at the two geniuses in their midst, "When it's mounted? You mean...like a horse? Meaning...us?"

"We are the necessary components that will empower this device and insure its proper operation," Tenko replied, "That was our overall intent from the beginning."

"We're what?" Ryeka looked askance at her fellow Masaki, "Oneechan, have you gone totally space happy? You mean you actually intend for the both of us..."

"For all of us," Lamyra replied, "I'm sorry but there's no other way. I know it's a lot to ask of you, but..."

"But it's all for the best, correct?" Watazashi glanced at Yuan-Yen, then at Tinkerbell, "In for a centimeter, in for a kilogram."

"I guess we really don't have a lot of alternate options," Yuan-Yen said in resignation, "I just hope this thing works better than advertised. I'd look terrible sucked dry like a mummy."

"This isn't a device meant to kill the Biological units that empower it," Ekko explained, "But I won't pretend that there is no element of risk involved..."

"Swell," Lylac gave a sour look at the armored redhead, "You just love dragging me into compromising situations like this. If I didn't know any better I'd swear you had ulterior motives."

"Moi?" Ekko asked innocently, in a wholly unconvincing manner, "On the contrary, Lylac-chan, I have always had your best interests close at heart, but I am sorry if you believe that I have arranged all of this simply to embarrass you. I merely thought that this was something that you and I could do together for the sake of Universal survival..."

"That's it, lay the guilt trip on me," Lylac rolled her eyes, "I swear, sometimes you remind me of my fama..."

"Biological units," Tachi murmured faintly, "Oh great...we've been reduced to "D" cell batteries for a Ferris Wheel-sized sex toy. I feel a con is in this someplace, but I just can't put my finger on it."

"I know what you mean," Rinse agreed, heaving a sigh, "So...what do we gotta do?"

"At the moment, nothing," Ekko replied as she banished her black armor plating with the touch of a button on her wrist, then set to work undoing her collar, "But the rest of us had better join you in getting sky clad for this stage of the operation. After all, no sense being overdressed for this party."

"I just knew you were going to say that," Lylac growled as she began undoing the buttons to her Chinese style outfit.

"Well now," Kama Sutra smiled as she watched the other five girls begin to remove their clothing, "This grows more interesting by the moment..."

"Maybe for you," Silver remarked while Ryeka and Atari began making the sounds of a Vaudeville strip show in one corner, "But I'm not all that sure I want to go through with this."

"What's to worry about?" Tsuyori smiled in a sultry manner, glancing down at the thing that Silver still leaned against, "For you, it should be no more difficult than riding a bicycle."

"Hardehar," Silver growled, turning to Tachi as she added, "I'm all for riding a Bicycle, not being ridden like one! And you know I was only kidding about the it in the first place, right?"

"Sure," Kinko grinned, from where she was studying the device in question, "That's what they all say."

"One problem," Akira frowned, "What's my part in all of this? Am I just going to stand here while Silver and you others take all the risks?"

"Not at all," Tenko replied as she finished removing her footwear and the last of her undergarments, then stood free as naked as her sister, "Your part is very essential to the proper workings of the device. Sixteen girls will mount the inner and outer rings, but one must be placed at the very center, where she is to be mounted by the chosen one, who is coincidentally the wielder of the device that links her to Yggdrasil."

"Me?" Ranko blinked, her hand going to the pendant from sheer reflex.

"It is a logical enough selection," Ekko replied as she casually tossed the last of her clothes to one side and revealed a taunt, well-endowed form that was rippling with dynamic tension in every sinew and muscle, "The Pendant no doubt chose you from a list of potential candidates after a careful and meticulous selection process, then severed your link to your old timeline so that you would be freed from all connections to the conventional timestream, making you the perfect facilitator through which Yggdrasil will guide the machine in making the necessary temporal corrections."

"Wait a minute," Silver protested, "Akira's gotta have sex with her? Now wait just a dang minute..."

"Oh?" Watazashi mused as she eyed the ash blonde Saotome with a sidelong smirk, "And I suppose you'd rather be the one occupying the middle?"

"Ah...hah?" Silver faltered.

"I'm not too keen about this," Lylac averred, "Having Ranko be roped into this doesn't seem all that fair...YEOWP!" she started as Ekko playfully swatted a hand against her bottom.

"So, what does fair have to do with any of this?" Ekko smiled, "We do what we have to because we are the only ones who can do this."

"I certainly agree that there are no better candidates that one could ask for," Lamyra smiled as she sidled up alongside Lylac's other flank and cooed, "If you want to back out now I certainly could not blame you, but it would indeed be a great honor for me to share a space with you in this moment of transition."

"Ah...hah?" Lylac replied in an unconscious mimicry of Silver's own last dubious statement.

"I dunno about the rest of you," said Tinkerbell in musical sarcasm as she floated above their heads, "But I get the idea that there's a Kami looking on right now laughing his head off at the stuff we're being put through."

"Given the nature of some of the deities that I've had to work with, I would say that was a given," Nabiki finally spoke up, "As warm and ennobling as it is to stand here basking in the glow of heroic self-sacrifice that you kids seem bound and determined to go through which, I feel it necessary-as the token adult here-  
to point out that this is a screwy way to save a cosmos, but if it's the only one we've got for the moment, then I have one question...who is going to operate the controls while the rest of you ride your way to glory?"

"Ah..." for the first time in long memory, Ekko showed a slight hesitation and seemed less certain than was normally the case for her, and with great reluctance she admitted, "Well...I assumed that perhaps maybe you might elect to choose that function, Auntie..."

"Maybe if I were familiar with its basic operations," Nabiki replied, "But I've only guesswork to go by. I thought maybe one of you had thought this out in advance before putting your admittedly desperate plans into motion."

"Er..." Tenko glanced at Ekko, then at Veil.

"The device is meant to be self-operating and maintaining," Veil replied, "But I admit that it would be best if there were a trained and competent operator standing by in case that we have trouble."

"In case that...?" Lylac rolled her eyes, "Wonderful! When you screw up, Ekko-  
chan, you don't kid around about it."

"It was an admitted oversight," Ekko scratched along the bridge of her nose, "All of my other calculations seemed to check out...I can't explain how I could have overlooked the need for a Technical operator..."

"Then it's settled," Nabiki said simply, "One of you will have to stand down and serve as an operator. That means we need a substitute to serve in her place, and I'm volunteering."

"You?" Ranko blinked.

"Ah...don't take this the wrong way, Auntie," Tsuyori remarked, "But I believe that the device was geared towards younger people who have the resilience of youth...not that I would ever imply that you are in any way lacking..."

"She means that you do not have the proper XX count that comes with being at the stage of late adolescence," Ekko smoothly explained, "Though you are remarkably well preserved for a woman in her late thirties, the fact remains that your XX levels are waning..."

"Listen, Daitokuji," Nabiki said firmly, "You may be an acknowledged genius, superior to either your mother or your...Fama...but I'm not over the hill just yet, and I can clean the clocks of the lot of you, because I'm older and more experienced, and you could use the services of a trained Lore Master..."

"I do hate to pull seniority here," said the sly-toned Toltir, who had been hanging back watching everything for the past several moments, "But I have an alternative suggestion...one that satisfies the requirements for both the machine and giving a reprieve to the one of you needed to operate the hardware," he nodded to one side and said, "I submit my own hand-picked candidate, and her name is Cheetah."

"As in Cheetah's never prosper?" Tachi reflexively quipped.

"That's open to debate," purred a sensual voice that suddenly appeared directly behind her, startling Tachi with a sense of deja-vu that caused her to leap forward before the thought had even half formed that she had let someone else get the drop on her from behind.

Rinse and the others turned to see a womanly form standing there looking smugly back at them with a pose that was so cocky and brash that they instantly knew she had to be a Saotome. The fact that she had body fur, belying her nakedness, and that her features were distinctly feline in tendency belied this impression as all who knew about the association of Ranma with cats could hardly be mistaken for having strong reservations.

"Who are you?" Atari asked, hands at the ready as if she were about to hurl lightning.

"I'm Saotome Cheetah," the cat-woman grinned, "And despite rumors to the contrary, I always prosper!"

"Cheetah's from a timeline where Ranma fell into a different spring than Nanniichuan," Toltir revealed, giving them a grin like a Cheshire, "And before you ask, her mother's name is Kasumi."

"Kasumi?" Nabiki asked dubiously, turning to look at the attractive feline girl, then shaking her head as if refusing to consider the implications, "Whatever. You know what this is all about, young lady?"

"I do, Auntie," Cheetah assured her, "Uncle Toltir explained everything to me on the way here, and I overheard the rest just now, and when Uncle Toltir tells you something, you better darn well believe I listen! I'm ready to do my part in order to save reality as we know it, so go ahead and strap me in. It sounds like a wild ride, and I'm already dressed to party."

"So we noticed," Yuan-Yen noted dryly, giving the feline girl a thorough study, "You always run around like that on account of the fur?"

"Not always," Cheetah shrugged, "My mother insists I at least wear something when I'm outdoors, but since Uncle Toltir caught me when I was about to take a shower...and since none of you guys seem to be standing on formality at the moment..."

"Right," Tachi glanced around, making an effort to recover from her earlier surprise, "Okay, I count eighteen heads, and only seventeen girls are needed, so who gets to be the lucky girl who sits this one out?"

"Obviously that should be Tenko-chan," Veil replied, "She knows how to operate the machinery..."

"Me?" Tenko replied, "You know even more about it than I do. I only helped design the schematics, you crafted the thing and made the needed adjustments."

"But the very fact that I called it into being means that I must share the risk along with the rest of you," Veil said simply, "It would not be fair to you otherwise..."

"Fairness issues aside," Toltir spoke up again, "I go with the Princess on this. Besides, if anything did go wrong, I'd never hear the end of it from your mother..."

"If?" Lylac asked with a slight quivering in her voice.

"Not to worry," Ekko nodded, "I will be there right beside you.

"That was going to be my next line," Lamyra grinned, leaning closer to Lylac in an altogether intimate manner.

Lylac glanced from one side to the other and softly murmured, "Why don't I feel reassured? This is another fine mess you've talked me into, E-chan."

"No use complaining," the redhead smiled, "You knew the risks the same as I did..."

"Actually I didn't," Lylac growled sarcastically, "Because somebody forgot to explain them to me along the way..."

"Look, can we just decide and get on with it?" Kinko asked impatiently, "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I definitely want to try this thing out!"

"Try it out?" Silver blinked her eyes, "Are you kidding?"

"I think she is serious," Watazashi replied, "And I must, reluctantly, concede that I find a certain morbid fascination with yon device as it promises to be more interesting than standing around here waiting for another attack to happen."

"You would," Ranko noted, but her tone belied her sarcasm.

Akira turned to Nabiki and Toltir and said, "Are you really sure there's no other way to go about this?"

"What's the matter, kid?" Toltir asked, "Afraid to come off with the redhead, or are you afraid you're gonna make your real lady love jealous?"

"My what?" Akira blinked, "Uh..." he exclaimed as he suddenly felt the eyes of Silver boring upon him.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," Nabiki murmured to herself.

"Can't be," Toltir replied in the same stage whisper, nodding to the machine as he added, "You're not the one who's gonna be riding that in another moment."

"That's supposed to reassure us?" Ranko asked, but sighed, glanced around at her fellow teens and said, "How do you get into those stupid harnesses?"

"We'll show you how it's done," Tenko replied, and with that the debate ended and the kids each chose a place around the Ferris wheel-like structure and prepared to get down to basics by risking their lives and bodies for the greater good, some muttering under their breath words to the effect of calling their agents or consulting their lawyers...

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Circular Reasoning: shadowmane

What has gotten into these girls (Bother figuratively and literally, that is) and what is about to happen next? Tune in again next time for a Hentai show that will make the Gods buy prophylactics. Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	16. Chapter 16

RanSquares14

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,

with ideas, characters and concepts supplied by my fellow

fanfic writers Nicole Manders, Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers

Chapter Fourteen.

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome-17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi Native to this Continuum.

Ranma Saotome-38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo-38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome-16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno-17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo-20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox Cheetah Saotome-17, brown-furred daughter of Kasumi and Ranma From Continuum #729058146 Humanoid Cheetah

Ryoga went crashing through a wall and went through a second without hardly pausing in between steps. He managed to recover after the second crash, landing on his feet with no great fanfare then assumed a fighting crouch as he murmured to himself, "This could be going better..."

The attack came in what was now the expected chain-and-tentacle attack, but this time he was ready to counter it, moving his hands at blinding speed as he severed each link and/or member that came near to his person. The man-boar roared in pained outrage and started shouldering its way through the gaps Ryoga had created, creating room enough for its own massive form to fit, which gave Ryoga an idea as his eyed drifted upward, and then he smiled and waited for the moment when it would happen.

Then the Balrog at last reached him Ryoga let loose with a powerful hand gesture, only not one aimed for the creature itself but rather for the massive stalactite above it, shoring its base as the disruptive current of air created by his motion acted like a giant meat cleaver to sheer through the stalactite's base and send it plummeting downward point-first into the creature. It barely had time to register the object protruding from its back and then it started to keel over, beating its wings in a futile effort at dislodging the piercing object, which effort took the last of its strength and it fell to the floor, pinned there like a moth to the matting.

"Ouch," Ryoga said in mock-sympathy, "Now that's gotta hurt."

The creature lay still for a moment, but then its massive form shrank down and assumed more human contours, the face becoming recognizable as a slightly older version of Mousse, whom Ryoga had not seen in nearly two full decades. As Ryoga stared in mild astonishment the eyes of the Chinese Amazon flickered open briefly, and then he heard a very faint murmur escape from his lips before breath failed him altogether.

"Thank you."

That said, Mousse lay still and Ryoga knew that his long torment was finally over.

"Mou," Ryoga murmured faintly, uncertain what to feel at the sight of a boy who had once held the dubious distinction of being more pathetic in love than even Ryoga himself. What had he endured living past the grave...and most probably beyond his beloved Shampoo...in service to a greater monster? Ryoga was about to turn away when he took notice of a chamber adjoining the one that he stood within, a dimly lit chamber, but one that caught and held his interest.

Turning to investigate, he approached the light, only to pause on the threshold, seeing before him a room that was illuminated like a shrine with slow-burning oil lamps casting faint light upon what looked like a room full of photographs whose image was at once familiar and utterly surprising. As Ryoga forced himself to set foot into the room he became overwhelmed by a sense not unlike one felt entering a holy refuge, only twisted and distorted by years of bitterness and grief into something recognizably evil, for which he visibly shuddered, understanding at once that he stood within the very doorway to madness and obsession.

As it was he wondered why he should be surprised upon discovering that the room contained pictures of a young Tendo Akane in various attitudes and poses signifying what must have been several years of surreptitious photography, much of it taken at great distance. The earlier pictures were crude and not very well focused, but the later images showed surprising sensitivity and increasing facility, Akane's hair going from long to short to a number of different styles, some Ryoga did not remember seeing before. Here was Akane at rest, at play, laughing, working out, getting angry, engaged in fights with various boys and girls, all familiar aspects to her character that filled Ryoga with nostalgic reflection. And then there were images where her picture had clearly been cut out of other photos, or other people had been removed from the scene to allow Akane to stand as the center of interest, and later images of Akane standing next to her sisters, and one of her posed with another girl whom Ryoga knew was Tendo Natsume.

Wall after wall and the entirety of the ceiling taken up with images of Akane, and at the center of it all a life-sized picture of her framed and displayed as one might a favored relative or loved one at a funeral parlor with offerings and incense left to appease the spirit of the departed. It gave the room the aspect of a small temple to someone's personal goddess, and it was with shocking clarity that Ryoga realized the sense of remorse he felt came from the past-  
tense feeling of Akane as one of the long-departed and much lamented.

"She truly was something else," a voice caused him to start and turn around, finding a dark-robed figure standing a ways off from him in cloak and hood that obscured his features, "There was something so very alive about her...I almost regret having done away with her at the end...but at last she proved to be as frail as any other mortal wretch...more's the pity."

"Who?" Ryoga was at once on his guard, wondering where Megumi had gotten off to during his fight against Mousse-the-Balrog.

"Have I changed so much that you do not recognize me?" the dark hooded man lifted his gaze to reveal more of a face that was sickly pale as death with eyes unusually wide and ruemy as he added the words, "Old friend?"

"Gosunkugi?" Ryoga momentarily taken aback at the sight of the once-sickly boy whom he could dimly remember as always hovering in the background at Furinkan High School.

"How nice," the unwholesome pale face twisted with a cruel smile that made him seem more ghastly in the half-light than any undead lich whom Ryoga had previously encountered, "You remember me...just as I remember you, one who also shared my appreciation for the Goddess whose shrine you have entered. Of course I also remember killing you, rather definitely too, I might add, but let's not bother with technicalities such as how you might possibly have survived as it could spoil the moment for both of us, don't you agree?"

"What's your game?" Ryoga frowned, "Why did you create this...gallery? And what became of you? You're nothing like the Gosunkugi that I remember!"

"Perhaps," the dark-clad creature before him continued to smile in a mirthless fashion, "But the Gosunkugi that was is not even a memory now...nor any trace of the hapless fool you knew. I am the Shogun of the Dark, the Regent of Darkness and right hand to my Master, Lord Maelstrom, the Dragon of Twilight who rules all and can never be opposed, let alone withstood. You will find that I am nothing like the poor wretch who first created those images...now I am a GOD, and you are merely an annoying worm come to offer hopeless challenge on the dawn of my ascension to true greatness!"

"What are you ranting on about?" Ryoga's eyes narrowed slightly, "What did you do with the Akane of your world?"

"Do?" the word seemed to amuse the Shogun, "Why, everything I wished to do with her, my every heart's desire, and more. I won her over to my cause, made her my servant and plaything, gave her the jewels of the earth to play with, elevated her to the level of a Princess, and what did the ungrateful bitch do in the end? She betrayed me!"

Ryoga felt a wave of hate flow from the man and braced himself against the shock wave that collided with his defenses. He withstood this attack, but the room around him did not fare half so well, for the photos began to ignite as the walls themselves caught fire, and in moments the shrine itself was transformed into a funeral pyre with the life-sized picture the last thing to be touched by the inferno.

Ryoga did not budge, even when the Oxygen level in the room became dangerously low. He gathered his power into himself and then extended his arms with a wave of both hands and extinguished the blaze, snuffing it out with the ease of a Shi Shi Hokoudan.

"Shame on you," Ryoga declared as the lighting returned to normal, "How could you discard her memory so easily, you who professed to once love her?"

"Love?" the Shogun's lips curled into a sneer, "I should have rid myself of those momentos of the past long ago. It was sentimentality that caused me to preserve them, nothing more than that. I do not require Love, only obedience to my will, and when one of my pets dares to snap at her master she must be dealt with accordingly, as an example to all others."

"I see," Ryoga relaxed his posture slightly, "Then you really are nothing like Gosunkugi. He at least had some faint trace of humanity, for all his cowardly obsession, lurking in the background playing stalker to a girl who barely even knew he existed."

Ryoga saw the glint of feral hate in the other man's eyes and knew that his ploy had paid off with a telling jibe that at least revealed that his antagonist had an all-too-human ego.

"I don't need to listen to this," the Shogun declared in tones of menace, "Not from one who used to walk around on all fours and pretend to be a harmless pet so he could worm his way into her bedchamber. Don't talk to me about puppy-like obsession, Dog-boy, it reeks of hypocrisy to hear the likes of you speak to others of outrage."

"Dog...?" Ryoga was not notoriously quick on the uptake, but it required little wit on his part to recognize that his counterpart must have been under a very different curse from that of his own, so he just nodded his head and said, "Whatever. I was wrong to deceive Akane, but I've long since made my peace with that aspect of my past. You, on the other hand, are going down for what you did to her, and all the other innocent people that you murdered in your mad quest for power!"

"Innocent?" the Shogun laughed, "There are no Innocents, boy! There are only the sheep and the predators, and this is the day when the flock is shorn of what is left of their miserable existence!"

As he said this he brought one hand out from the concealment of his robes and revealed the thing that he was clutching there, a glowing object roughly the size of a grapefruit but shaped like the brain of some long-dead creature carved from solid jade and all but reeking of dark and terrible power, which Ryoga felt with a wave of revulsion. It suddenly became clear to him that this was the key to the Shogun's power, and a terrible power it was indeed, dark and obscenely twisted like a thing from the darkest pits of nightmare.

Ryoga sought to attack rather than wait to be attached, but a wave of force emanated from the object and struck him in mid-charge, beating him back and hurtling him against the farthest wall of the cavern, which started to collapse about him as the Shogun sought to transform the former shrine into his tomb, laughing all the while with malevolent relish...

Two versions of Ranma-chan struggled against the might of the tentacles that were ravishing them both with methodical insistence, heedless to their protests and unvoiced cries at the indignity of it all while the Lord of Chaos held them in his power, suspending them above the ground and relishing the sensation of having the both of them at his pitiless mercy.

For Time-Cop Ranma-chan it was an unpleasant reminder of why his curse had always served as the very antithesis of all things manly that he once had aspired towards in his youthful folly. Having long ago resigned himself to having a dual nature, he had come to appreciate his female side's many positive aspects and even made peace with that aspect's more charming abilities, which included things that he knew would not have gained the favor of his mother. Now fully a woman in body, he had learned to give in and let go, to accept what being a woman meant with both positive and negative qualities, one of which was the fact that she was an object of adoration to most men, eternally young and beautiful as his curse slowed his aging process down so that he almost appeared to be a young woman in her early twenties.

One aspect he did not find so comfortable to deal with was the vulnerability to penetration that now was the crux of her current dilemma. Having more openings than her male aspect possessed, she was being reamed both fore and aft by tentacles, which were also intrusively "deep-throating" her with the vile taste of a tentacle-like cock sliding past her tonsils and working its way up and down her esophagus in steady rhythm, making breathing itself a matter of gulping in breaths with each partial withdrawal from her breathing passage. Only slightly more annoying to her was the sliding in and out of her unlubricated vulva and anus, which thankfully did get smoothed out when the tentacles themselves secreted some sort of substance that caused her to involuntarily lubricate as though being hormonally stimulated against her will and without real enjoyment.

Ranma had rarely been even threatened by rape, twice actually experiencing the sensation in the days of his gypsy wanderings, before coming unto his true power. The first time it had actually happened had been a soul-shattering ordeal that fragmented what was left of his shallow self-esteem at the time and taught him a blacker despair than any known since recovering in the Hospital from his near-fatal stabbing by Akane. It was a testament to Ranma's character and will to survive that she/he had climbed back from the abyss of despair that the experience had cast him into, and only when he accepted that rape was a reality many women faced in prospect every day did he begin to come to terms with what had happened. It made it easier to endure the second time he had been forced to submit sexually, but he had never forgotten the intense shame and humiliation that came from being abused in such a manner.

That experience came to the fore now as Ranma-chan recovered from the overwhelming surprise that had left him momentarily at the mercy of the creature, and with great effort Ranma-chan snapped back from the edge of her dismay to rally her anger and outrage at the thought that Kuno would take advantage of her in such an honorless manner. All right, so it was a Kuno possessed by a Demon and thus obviously not in what passed for his full wits, but even without a Demon in him, Kuno had shown no reluctance or hesitation in the past to force himself upon a woman who loathed and despised him.

It made it very easy for Ranma-chan to reach down into that aspect of herself that was no longer human and call upon the dark malevolent powers of Kali, the Goddess of Madness and Destruction. The power erupted from within her and incinerated the tentacles within her, shooting their ashes out of her openings as Ranma-chan was transformed from helpless damsel to avenging Goddess.

Beast Ranma-chan had been having a rougher time of it, but unlike her counterpart, she was no stranger to tentacle rape scenarios and had long ago grown accustomed to the sensations of ravishment, learning to work with those sensations to increase his internal power and resist the attempts by the creature to drain his life essence. She was working herself around to having a self-stimulated orgasm that would give her the charge that she needed to break free when she sensed the other Ranma-chan's transformation. Twisting her body around to afford herself a better vantage point from which to see, she was the redheaded Avenger break free from her tentacles as her body was surrounded by an unholy light of its own, and suddenly he knew that this Ranma-chan was very different from the grim-visaged brother whom she had been playing with only moments before.

The Lord of Chaos was even more unprepared for the sudden transformation as one of his "victims" suddenly became the aggressor, hurtling towards him with lethal intent that could not be resisted. Kali-Ranma struck fast and hard with hands that were invisibly swift, her whole body becoming a blur as she tore into him with the fury of the Nekoken, only redoubled a thousandfold to superhuman levels!

Body-armor that could shrug off anti-tank shells with ease proved no match for the blazing fires that erupted from the hands of the crimson blur that was upon him, and all the Lord could do was flail his arms helplessly in a futile attempt to ward off the rain of blows that tore into his flesh and left the massive creature bloody and battered. With a final savage cry Kali-Ranma plunged one hand into the massive chest and cracked it open like a walnut, tearing the rib-  
cage open as she proceeded to eviscerate the Lord of Chaos, tearing him apart in a bloody orgy of carnage worthy of the deva whose name was synonymous with bloodshed and destruction.

"Whoah!" Beast Ranma-chan exclaimed, unprepared to witness such a savage display of unbridled carnal fury. He was no stranger to such savage displays, of course, but to see his counterpart go wild like this was hardly something that he could be prepared to witness. In seconds the other Ranma-chan had finished off their massive opponent, glowing with a scarlet battle aura that set off every one of her alarm bells. When Kali-Ranma started to cast around looking another opponent it was not a very appealing prospect.

"Okay," Beast Ranma said, "Time to throw a little water onto this subject!"

He snapped his fingers again and a sudden hot shower of flash rain washed over them, reverting them both to male aspect. This had the pleasing effect of causing Time-Cop Ranma to glance around, then stare at the remains of the Lord of Chaos before saying, "Ah...did I do that?"

Beast Ranma arched an eyebrow at that comment, surprised at how swiftly sanity had been restored to his counterpart. Hovering in the air a reasonable safe distance he asked, "Feeling better...now that you worked that out of your system?"

"Ah...sort of," Time-Cop Ranma ran his fingers through his loose black hair and said, "Guess I owe you an explanation...but it's kinda complicated."

"Try me," Beast Ranma urged.

"Well..." Time-Cop Ranma glanced around and immediately located his leather jacket, then moved to retrieve it, "A number of years ago I...sort had this near-death encounter with an entity so vast and powerful that it sort of makes the word Kami sound pretty pale and insignificant. For lack of a better word, I call this entity by the Hindu name Shiva."

"Shiva," Beast Ranma replied, "As in the God of Destruction?"

"More like one of the three aspects of a Universal being known as Bhrama," Time-  
Cop Ranma replied, "I made acquaintance with the guy whose charged with destroying what's old to make way for what's new. Not really what you'd call an anthropomorphic representation of a primal force of nature, but intelligent enough to hold a pretty decent conversation. We...sort of came to an arrangement...and ever since that time I've been linked with Shiva and can sometimes call on his aspect to serve me when I need a power boost."

"And that's why you freaked out just now?" Beast Ranma asked.

"Actually no," Time-Cop Ranma said as he partially zipped up his jacket, "The downside of the bargain is that I sometimes have to deal with Shiva's renegade wilder aspect, Kali Durga, who ain't that nice as deities go. She only comes out when I'm in my female aspect, but when she takes over...whoo! Run for the hills, 'cause she don't care if it's friend or foe, as long as she gets to destroy them."

"That's some arrangement," Beast Ranma noted.

"Tell me about it," Time-Cop Ranma sighed, "At the time, though, I didn't have anything better going on in my life, and having one third of all the power of creation at my beck and call can sometimes be pretty useful, like with that Vegita guy, or chuckles here for that matter."

"I guess," Beast Ranma said dubiously, "All for the sake of the Art, huh?"

Time-Cop Ranma frowned, "I don't give a fig about that anymore. The Art may be my life, but it destroyed whatever chance of happiness I had growing up, thanks to Pop and his stupid obsession. What's the point of being the toughest guy around if you ain't got nothing left worth defending? That's why I'm hoping to start up a new life with Nabiki once all of this is over and done with...otherwise I might as well be a mindless mass of muscle like Kuno here, may he rest in pieces and all that."

"Guess I'd feel the same way if I was in your space," Beast-Ranma noted, "Good luck making it with Nabiki and-I don't bloody believe it!"

"Huh?" Time-Cop Ranma turned to see what remained of Kuno, only to sense the gathering energies, and as he looked with widened eyes the pieces of the body began to slow with energy and slowly come together, "WHA-No way!"

Before their eyes the body of Kuno rippled and shifted and in moments became whole once more, then The Lord of Chaos opened crimson eyes and lifted its massive head, gleaming with hate as it saw the two different versions of Saotome Ranma.

"Is he an Immortal or something?" Time-Cop Ranma declared in disbelief, "What does it take to take this guy our permanently?"

"I guess maybe the Shogun's keeping him alive with his magic," Beast Ranma deduced, "Either that or Maelstrom is doing this directly."

"Oh, what...now you just remembered he could do that?" Time-Cop Ranma berated his counterpart.

"Hey, give me a break," Beast Ranma replied, "It's the first time I've fought this guy in almost twenty years...who knew how powerful he's become with all the life energies he's absorbed in the last two decades!"

The Lord of Chaos rose to its feet and roared, and once again a huge katana of light appear between his fingers as he prepared to employ it in the manner of a bokken.

"Pop always said there'd be days like this," Time-Cop Ranma sighed as he braced himself to meet the renewed challenge...

"Uh...is there time to, like, change my mind about taking part in this?" Silver asked as Tenko and Ekko finished strapping her down into the harness.

"Sorry," Tenko smiled at her, "Last call to back out was about five minutes ago, but don't worry, we'll be joining you soon enough in our own seats for this ride."

"Swell," Silver glanced down at herself and dubiously wondered if the day could get any more freaky than it was. She could not move her arms or legs as they were held in place at a slight "V" angle while the bulk of her weight was supported by straps around her shoulders, chest and hips, exposing the area between her legs where the saddle-like seat had a noticeable gap at front and rear angles. Her nipples were capped by a pair of odd looking devices that were wired to the harness itself, which a third cap was placed over the area of her clitoris, insuring full stimulation would be achieved when the ride got underway (though it was the riding part that was making her nervous).

Nearby her, Rinse also was experiencing second thought about her part in this operation, but as she, Tachi, Ryeka and Atari had already been strapped in, it seemed the only thing she could say was, "Next time I get a crazy idea about volunteering for something like this...talk me out of it please?"

"You got a deal, Cousin," Tachi agreed, silently averring to herself that dignity was the first casualty of this type of warfare.

"Actually this does not seem all that bad," Watazashi remarked, settling into her harness as she remarked in a casual, off-handed way, "The straps are not too tight, the seating is adequate and there's not real discomfort to being suspended in this manner. Of course the view could stand some improvement, but I suppose we can't have everything in the same package."

"I'm glad one of us is enjoying this," Yuan-Yen remarked, "I don't see why you have to be in the inner circle while the rest of us ride the outer ring..."

"Geometric Constancy," Tsuyori remarked as she smiled at an anxious Lylac, whom she was helping to strap in to one of the four inner positions, "Of the Eighteen women here, about seven of us are Temporal Nexuses, and with Ranko occupying the center slot that leaves six of us to be balanced around her in such a way that we can channel the energies generated here in a dynamic manner."

"Correct," Ekko remarked as she came to stand alongside the anxious Lylac, "You are one of the four cardinal points who will be directing the flow of Akashik energy through your body and into the central platform, where it will go to enhance the Unity Equation, which Ranko will be performing with Akira. Yggdrasil itself will do the rest from there, all we need to do is contribute our energies to complete the equation, and then the operation will be a success and we can return home to our original timelines."

"Sounds nice in Theory," Ryeka growled, "But I'd like it better if I could actually see Rinse-chan. I guess I'll have to trust Grandmother to get it right for once since Tenko and her know more about this tech stuff than I do."

"What do you mean 'Get it right?'" Silver asked, "You guys saying this is all just a theory?"

"Wonderful," Atari rolled her eyes, "The fate of my beloved...and not inconsequentially myself...resides in the reputation of the greatest Mad Scientist that Juraian space has ever incubated."

"Sounds like fun," Cheetah remarked from where she dangled in her own harness, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait to get started."

"Same here!" Kinko smiled in spite of having to position her wings in such a way that they did not get in the way of the various straps and attachments that connected her to her harness, "Are we ready to go with this or what?"

"You seem unusually in a hurry," Kama Sutra smiled indulgently, "All things come to those who wait, so be patient and let us see what develops."

"Never fear, Lylac-chan," Ekko said as she leaned next to her friend, "I will be with you all the while, so whatever your fate will be, you know that I will gladly share it."

"Uh..." Lylac eyed the redheaded genius with some confusion, "Does that mean you'll be ready to break both of us out if anything goes wrong?"

"I'm afraid not," Ekko said as her face hovered near to the purple haired girl's, "Veil-chan designed these harnesses to be strong enough to hold even one with my level of power. I fear that I will be as helpless as the rest of you once my own straps are secured, but it is a fate I am resigned to..."

"WHAT?" Lylac exclaimed in dismay, "You tell me this now after I-MMMPH!?" she exclaimed as Ekko suddenly leaned forward and prevented the flow of her words with a kiss that caught her wholly by surprise.

"For luck," Ekko informed her as she broke off the brief kiss, that left Lylac dangling there confused and mildly disoriented.

"Well now," an amused Tenko turned to Ekko and said, "Shall I strap you in next, or will you do me the honors?"

"I might as well go next," Ekko replied, turning away from a bewildered Lylac with a most unusual reluctance, "But first let us help our friendly Pixie into her coveted spot..."

"Ah..." Tinkerbell said musically as she studied the other dangling girls, then the four open positions that awaited occupation, "Er...thanks, but I wouldn't want to rush you guys. Take your time, I can wait my turn..."

"Such generosity is admirable," Tsuyori mused with an appreciative leer in the hovering girl's direction, "But we wouldn't think to deny you your spot."

Off to one side Nabiki was shaking her head in disbelief and saying, "I can't believe I'm actually going along with this. What would I say to their mothers if anything does go wrong?"

"Cheer up," Toltir reassured her, "If anything does go wrong, then you won't have a Multiverse to get back to. That should solve your problem nice and neatly."

"I'm sure Aunt Nabiki appreciates what's at stake here, Uncle," Veil replied, "But it can't be easy watching your loved ones risk it all for the sake of the Cosmos. I only hope that I performed the spells correctly to specifications, because it may be difficult to rectify problems in the basic equation once the device is fully activated. I still think I should be there with them risking my own life alongside my companions...""

"And I'm pretty sure your Mom would feel the same way in your place," Toltir remarked, "But she'd ground you in a heartbeat just for saying that. I know what you mean, though...it'd be a shame if anything bad happened to Cheetah. I'm rather fond of the timeline she hails from...it's one of my own specialty jobs."

"Why don't I find that surprising or reassuring?" Nabiki asked dryly, "Oh well...in for a pinch, in for the long haul. I just hope Ranko's up to doing her part. I keep wondering what she and Akira must be thinking now, knowing that their part is instrumental to the whole shindig?"

"The kids will do just fine," Toltir replied, "Have some faith...after all, it's what they've been gathered her to do, right? After all, if this timeline collapses it won't be like any of those temporary jobs we divine sorts sometimes set up in order to test out scenarios and theories...this one will bring the whole house of cards tumbling down if we don't shore it up right away, and that's the job for Heroes, which these kids qualify for in aces and deuces."

"A Hero arises because the Universe has need for his or her services," Veil agreed in somber reflection, "But when a hero fails disaster sometimes can occur, as happened when twelve heroes died in this very chamber. We setting the wrong things right by undoing the Anti-Life equation that was performed back then, using the Life Equation itself to stabilize the pattern. I just hope nothing will go wrong at this point..."

"Relax," Toltir grinned like a Cheshire, "You got me to supervise affairs, so what could possibly go wrong?"

"I don't really know," Nabiki replied, "And that's the thing that has me worried..."

The Shogun surveyed his handiwork with grim satisfaction and began to turn away, saying, "Rest in pieces, Hibiki..."

A slight shifting of stone brought his attention around to the stone that he had collapsed, wondering if it were possible that Hibiki could have survived being crushed under all that stone and rubble, only to react with even greater surprise when the stone erupted from the space almost directly behind him. The Shogun began to turn about when a fist driven with great force and passion picked him up and nearly tore his head from his shoulders. It was with stunning ferocity that he made contact with a different section of wall, and then while his head was still ringing he heard Hibiki's taunting comment, "Bet you never saw that coming."

The Shogun shrugged off the stinging blow and growled, "I see...burying you in stone was a mistake, obviously."

"Obviously," Ryoga replied with a mocking smile, "Ever since I learned the Breaking Point technique I've been able to move through stone like it was water. You really don't stand a chance against me, so you'd better quit now before I get really nasty."

"You?" the Shogun grated nastily, "Don't make me laugh! You pass out from a nosebleed whenever you even look at a woman! Putting you out of your pathetic misery was the one human act of kindness that I could perform before moving beyond mere petty human concerns. I don't know how you survived our last encounter, but you won't be making any more miraculous recoveries..."

"Funny thing," Ryoga replied with a confident grin, "I was going to say the same thing about you."

He became a momentary blur, only this time the Shogun was prepared for the attack and repelled it with the artifact in his hand. Ryoga bounced off the forcefield that met his sidelong attack and he was suddenly slammed up against a wall and held fast like a fly in amber. No matter how hard he tried to move his muscles refused to budge, and not even the Breaking Point could help him to escape through the wall itself as the Shogun suspended him above the floor with very little effort.

"You see, you pathetic wretch," the Shogun smiled, "You're helpless before my power, just as all living things must be before the might of my Master. You cannot move, let alone attack me while I hold the ultimate power in the palm of my hand. Nothing is beyond me now...even the much vaunted Akane was but a pawn for me to use and discard when she proved too tiresome and lost her air of mystery that had once so enthralled my present host body..."

Ryoga's face contorted with emotion, and with great effort he managed to grate out, "H-How dare you...how dare you invoke...the name of Akane!"

"Eh?" the Shogun frowned, feeling an increasing resistance to the power that he was employing against Ryoga, "You dare to speak to your master without permission?"

"Master?" Ryoga braced himself against the wall and began pushing, "Don't...make me laugh. You're nobody's master...let alone mine..."

The Shogun extended the glowing artifact in his hand and increased the power of his exertions, but it was not enough to prevent Ryoga from forcing his way against the numbing force of his attack, bracing against the fury of dark greenish energy that was no longer penetrating his personal defenses. Ryoga's face became a mask of righteous fury as he cried, "YOU WONDER HOW I SURVIVED? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT I DID! I'VE BEEN TO HELL AND BACK SO MANY TIMES THAT I CHALK IT UP AS ANOTHER SCENIC VACATION!"

"What?" for the first time in long memory the Shogun was dismayed to find his power meeting a formidable opposition. Even the much-vaunted Amano Jyaku had never offered such a fierce resistance, and so great was the Shogun's disbelief that he acted like a true villain and blurted out the standard line, "How can you be doing this? Where are you getting your power? You should be paralyzed and helpless before me!"

"You can talk about power?" Ryoga replied as he stood his ground and refused to budge, "This is nothing! You may cow some people with your pompous preening, but you're nothing but a self-inflated windbag next to the kind of people Ranma and me deal with for a living!"

"What...you and Saotome?" the Shogun's surprise was intensified as he again increased the power levels without achieving any noticeable effect, "You two have hated each other since childhood..."

"You're wrong," Ryoga replied, "I was wrong...it took me a while to figure it out, but I now know the truth, that Ranma and I are brothers, not enemies..."

"Brothers?" the Shogun declared in disbelief.

"What's the matter?" Ryoga smiled, "Don't see a resemblance between us?"

For an instant the Shogun had a flash of recognition, having seen that confident, cocky smile all too many times on the face of the much-hated Saotome. It was an instant when his grip on power relaxed by a mere fraction, and in that instant Ryoga surged against the sudden weakness, twisting the force against itself as one might redirect energy in a fight and with his uncanny grasp of weak areas in strong force lines he stabbed a finger forward and cried, BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"

The Shogun gave back with a startled oath as the power exploded before him, ripping apart along the numberless fault lines within the energy streamers and causing a massive feed-back that rippled up one arm and nearly caused him to stagger under the onslaught. As he furiously summoned energy to cancel out the disruptive currents threatening to tear him apart from within, Ryoga broke free and was upon him, striking fast and savagely, only to be met by the protective armor that was the Shogun's living cloak, which thwarted his efforts to get near enough to attack the Shogun.

"You caused me to feel pain!" the Shogun declared as he switched possession of his artifact from one hand to the other, extending the member that tingled from various micro-fracture lines that rendered it momentarily useless, "No one has dared do that to me in over a decade!"

"Then allow me reacquaint you with the sensation," Ryoga held his fists at the ready, "I'm not like the Ryoga that you remember, Keep fighting me like an amateur and you'll find out what pain means.

The Shogun extended the glowing artifact in his good hand and said, "Now you die...!"

All at once the cavern erupted with the booming mental voice of a swelling evil far greater than that wielded by the Shogun, "SHOGUN, DESIST! WHILE YOU ARE DISTRACTED DEALING WITH THIS WRETCH THE TRUE THREAT IS ABOUT TO BE UNLEASHED! THE ONE CALLED NABIKI IS PREPARING TO LAUNCH THE TRUE THREAT AGAINST ME AT THIS VERY MOMENT!"

"Nabiki?" the Shogun turned his attention towards the ceiling, "No! The Witch! What is she doing up there? I have not time to deal with the likes of you now, Hibiki!"

And with that he wrapped himself within the folds of his cloak and vanished, even as Ryoga surged forward an instant too latch to intercept him.

"Come back here, you Coward!" Ryoga cried before belatedly remembering that Nabiki was unguarded upstairs and that his task had been to dispatch the Shogun before he could prove to be a real problem. He hastily activated his wrist-  
locator but found the dimensional coordinates were skewed, which meant he would have to find his way out of the caverns on his own, a prospect that he as much looked forward to as pulling teeth from a tiger with a pair of tweezers.

He needed a guide who knew her way out of there, which of course brought him back to remembering about Megumi. He had all but forgotten in the rush of events that she was with him, only she had somehow disappeared during his battle against the demonically possessed Mousse. He fixed a locator beacon for her unique energy signature and found her reasonably close nearby, so he headed off her way in by accelerating his momentum to many times that of normal.

His intent had been to by-pass any lingering attackers who might further wait in ambush, but he encountered no such opposition as he burst through one wall and discovered Megumi being molested by a hundred writhing tentacles. Ryoga was about to come to her assistance when he felt a power surge welling up from within her, so he held off and watched, which proved to be a very wise tactical maneuver.

All at once Megumi's naked form discharged the energy that had been welling up inside her, power that felt like a thousand womanly climaxes redoubled into a massive Big Bang, which disrupted the tentacles and caused everything within ten meters of her to be blown apart into smoldering fragments.

"Ah...!" Megumi stretched as she flexed her limber form, then alighted down on one bare foot and said, "I needed that! What took you so long? I was starting to get worried."

"You...were worried about me?" Ryoga suddenly took notice of her ravishing nakedness and hastily forced himself to look away, conjuring up mental images of Akari.

"Of course," Megumi posed herself fetchingly, not bothered at all by his charming modesty, "A place like this holds no terrors for a Princess of the Beast Realms. You, on the other hand, are as out of place as a duck in a desert. I was just waiting for you to get finished up because I thought you could use a lift out of here. Interested?"

"You bet," Ryoga glanced around and said, "But...uh...do you have anything to wear?"

"Nothing too useable, I'm afraid," Megumi sighed as she scanned what remained of her clothing, "But I might be able to fashion a halter from the scraps. Too bad...that was my favorite outfit."

"We have to hurry," Ryoga informed her, "The Shogun got away from me, and I think he's after Nabiki."

Megumi abruptly sobered, "No...she's after the children! If they've gone ahead with the plan, then they'll be helpless and at his mercy!"

"Get me back up there at once," Ryoga made a fist and managed to ignore the attractive green haired woman as his face became resolved and determined, "He made a mistake letting me live, and when I see the Shogun next, he's going to learn just why!"

Megumi hastily snatched up her things and in a blur of motion fashioned a bikini bottom and halter, then without waiting for an appraisal of her new fashions statement she snatched up the leather clad Ryoga and phased the both of them through rock and stone, accelerating upward with the speed of a guided missile...

"Well now," Nabiki said as she surveyed the device presently adorned by naked girls, unable to help reflecting that it resembled a carousel-shaped birthday cake or (inverted candelabra) constructed by someone with a truly perverted imagination, "What now?"

"Now we prepare to activate the device," Veil replied somberly, "And we wait to see if it will work according to the design plans."

"Just great!" remarked Silver as she surveyed herself, as did many of the others, "We've been reduced to the level of crash test dummies, emphasis on the word Dummy."

"Relax," Tsuyori smiled, "It should be an interesting ride, and it should begin at any minute."

"I'm glad to see one of us is having a good time," Rinse growled, "Because it sure isn't me!"

"I understand your nervousness," Watazashi assured them, "But it's too late to back out now, so I plan on doing as Tsu-chan recommends and enjoy this ride to the fullest. After all, we've been in far more compromising situations, eh, Yuan-chan?"

"Yeah...right," Yuan-Yen replied dubiously from the ring below the four cardinal points that topped the twelve in the outer circle.

"You don't sound very enthusiastic," Cheetah noted, "You remind me a little of my younger sister, Arashi. She and Tenma never volunteer for anything, and it usually falls to me to uphold the Saotome traditions."

"I'm glad somebody thinks this is a great honor," Lylac replied from the opposite side of the wheel, "Because it sure isn't me! I just wish I knew how you keep talking me into stuff like this, Ekko!"

"Because you're sensible enough to listen to my persuasive arguments, of course," Ekko replied with nonchalant disregard for her equally compromised status.

"That and the fact that you're a persuasive talker," Tenko said in amusement beside her, "One of these days you two are going to have to get used to the fact that you were meant to be together. It would sure make life easier for the rest of us, let me tell you!"

"You mean they're always like this, Sis?" Ryeka asked from her position directly below Rinse and next to Atari, "Geez...and I thought we sounded like one of Mom's romance manga!"

"Can we get this thing started already?" Kinko asked, "Before my arms get tired, not to mention my wings?"

"You're actually looking forward to this?" asked Tinkerbell from where she was strapped below Watazashi and next to Yuan.

"Oh sure," Tachi said without bothering to hide her sarcasm, "I'm sure it's a lot more fun than being in class, right?"

"Depends on which class and which teacher," Kinko replied, "And sometimes Principal Hinako sits in on homeroom, which is not any fun, let me tell you!"

"Oho?" Kama Sutra asked, "You mean on your timeline she isn't your step-  
grandmother?"

"Grandmother?" Akira asked with a slightly dubious expression before glancing down at the leather harness that made him look like a male Bondage cover model, "Are you sure I have to wear this? I feel more than a little silly."

"The harness links you to the machinery and helps completes the circuit that you will be creating with Ranko," Ekko replied, "So yes...fashion statements aside, it is necessary."

"Complete the circuit?" asked Ranko from where she lay facing upwards on the top of the machine, spread eagle with all four limbs held out towards cardinal points, and the space between her legs uncomfortably exposed from where Akira was currently standing, "I definitely don't like the sound of this...!"

"I guess there's no point in waiting any longer," Veil heaved a sigh, "I still feel guilty about not being up there with the rest of you, but I do all that I can to insure your safety..."

All at once Nabiki put a hand on her shoulder and said, "One moment...I sense something...evil...!"

That was all the time she had to speak before a looming shadow reared up before her, and all at once the Shogun of the Dark appeared directly behind her, swatting Veil to one side with a brush of his arm before his other hand shot out and gripped Nabiki by the neck, lifting her off of her feet before she had time to react.

"YOU-DARE-TO DEFY ME AGAIN?" the Shogun snarled as he squeezed hard and shook Nabiki like a leaf, "Nevermore! This time you die, bitch! You all will die for defying my master!"

"Auntie!" Akira cried, lurching forward like a true hero, only to discover that the harness he was attached to prevented him from leaving the space where he was atop the carousel. He was no more able to come to her rescue than any of the girls looking on helplessly from their own uncomfortable positions.

"R-Ranma?" Nabiki managed to gasp, feeling her consciousness begin to slip away as she was unable to rally any defenses in the face of the Shogun's towering evil...

"Okay..." Time-Cop Ranma winced as he got up again from what was left of yet another smashed up building, "That hurt...a little..."

"Count yourself lucky," Beast Ranma surveyed the canyon-like crater that extended for several city block, created by the Lord of Chaos with a single downward slash of his energy blade, "You only took the backwash...it could have been messy if you hadn't dodged at the last second."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Time-Cop Ranma remarked as he surveyed the sight of the Lord of Chaos and his energy katana, "Kuno always did list to the left on his strokes. I just didn't expect him to be so fast is all..."

"I keep telling you, Bro," Beast-Ranma replied, "This ain't the same Kuno! That guy died a long time ago, what you're facing now is a major Uber-class demon."

"Bull," Ranma ran the back of his hand against the corner of his lip and idly noted the trickle of blood there, "It's still Kuno...no matter what fancy tricks he's picked up, he hasn't changed deep down where it matters, which is why I wanna try something. Hang back for a bit and let me take over, then you come in when I give you the signal."

"You still want to attack after all that?" Beast Ranma indicated the trail of devastation that had been the better half of Nerima, "Forget it, we're outclassed here. Better do like Pop would and use the Special Final Attack to pull out of here until we can think of something better..."

"Don't talk to me about Pop," Ranma's tone dropped several score degrees centigrade as he started moving forward, "And no running away either. We finish this now, and we finish it but good."

"I can sympathize with the sentiments, but how?" Beast Ranma asked, "You saw him get up after you eviscerated him the last time. He won't die...so how the hell are you gonna stop him?"

"You'll see," Time-Cop Ranma continued to walk forward while his counterpart held back and hovered in the air to watch, sensing in his counterpart an unwavering determination that was altogether familiar and reminded him of a time when he himself had been possessed of a similar stubborn streak, the kind that always cried out, "No retreat, no surrender!"

"Your funeral, Bro," Beast Ranma murmured to himself, then stood and watched, fists balled as he summoned the power of the Beast Realms into his fists, determined to see that the other Ranma did not go unavenged, should avenging be needed.

"Yo, Kuno!" Time-Cop Ranma called out when he was no more than ten meters away from the giant demon, "You having fun, man? You getting your rocks off of destroying things, showing off your power? Don't it feel great cutting loose without any cares and responsibility for the people who might get hurt by you, Moron?"

The Lord of Chaos glowered dangerously as his ruby eyes gleamed in menace.

"Oh, you don't like it when I call you that?" Ranma asked in scornful tones, "Too bad. Look around you, Moron, and tell me what you make of all this! Does it make you proud, feel like a real man knowing you're responsible for all this carnage and destruction? Yeah, that just like you, Moron, never did give a damn about anybody but yourself, though way I hear it you did once have the hots for a lady named Natsume."

To Beast-Ranma's amazement, the Lord turned his feral eyes to sweep the path of destruction that had been created as a consequence of their fight, only to have his attention rivet back at Ranma with the mention of the name Natsume.

"Yeah, that's right, you dumb jock," Time-Cop Ranma grimly nodded, "I said Natsume...the girl you were supposedly in love with, only what happened to her? Was it because of you? Couldn't protect your own woman? What'd you do? Cheer and applaud when the Shogun iced her? Or was it you did the dirty deed? Man, you are really something else, you pathetic excuse for a Samurai! That's real manly!"

The Lord of Chaos reacted to the insults as though recognition were warring against instinct, and in that moment Beast Ranma cottoned on to what his counterpart was doing. It was so obvious that it amazed him that he had never thought of it himself, a strategy so sublimely effective that he had employed it with great success on numerous occasions, the single weapon in her arsenal that had never failed him.

Taunting!

"So now you got nothing better to do with your life than to go on running errands for the Shogun like a good little Psychopath," Time-Cop Ranma shook his head, "Man, I used to think your sister was a piece of work, but you're right out there in looneyville! Of course I guess it's not really your fault that you turned out like this, having a father you got dealt. Talk about luck of the draw, huh? Compared to your old man, mine was almost stable!"

The Lord of Chaos growled in menace as if the mere mention of his father was dangerous to trespass. Time-Cop Ranma took no heed of him, however, and merely continued, "I guess when you come right down to it we're more alike than we'd like to admit. You got your sick, demented family and I had mine, so the way we both turned out was actually pretty comical, if you're into sit-coms. Too bad we never got a chance to really sit down and compare notes...might've found out we didn't need to be enemies all this time and I might have even looked on you as a brother, like with Ryoga."

The Lord of Chaos seemed to hesitate and eyed the leather-clad with obvious suspicion, to which Time-Cop Ranma replied, "What, you don't believe me? I guess that's only to be expected. I wouldn't believe me either twenty years ago, but what can I say? I've had lots of time think on what went down all those years ago, and it sure caused me some uncomfortable moments. So...what do you say...bury the hatchet and let bygones be bygones, or are we gonna continue to tear up what's left of the place, because we can do this either way. It's your call."

For a very long, tense moment, the Lord of Chaos hesitated, as if some part of Ranma's words was slowly penetrating to the deep subconscious regions where a young boy named Kuno Tatewaki still resided, but this brought about a surge of opposition from the part that was the Lord of Chaos, and that part surged to life with a vengeance as he lifted the Katana of light in his hands and prepared to smash down on this impudent mortal that had dared to approach the part of him that was still human.

But Ranma's outline blurred, and before the Lord of Chaos had time to take note of this he was struck from all sides, a thousand blows raining down on him from all sides, striking at every single one of his vital places, hitting nerve clusters and disrupting the flow of energy currents that circulated within his massive form. The rain continued until the Lord was pulverized and his body-  
armor shattered. All at once Ranma was directly before him, gripping the horn upon the head of the Demon before saying, "Good night, sucker!" and yanking it free, causing the Lord no end of torment as it felt as though a part of his soul had been ripped clean from his body.

"NOW!" Time-Cop Ranma cried out as he backed as far away from the Lord of Chaos as safety permitted.

Beast Ranma needed no further urging before unleashing his energies in a single attack that struck the demon square in the chest and tore his mass asunder. This time there was a massive wave of energy discharged from the space that the Lord had occupied mere seconds before hand, and when at last the energy wash was done there was nothing left to the Lord but a smoldering crater.

"Nice shot," Time-Cop Ranma remarked in the ensuing silence.

"Let's see if he pulls himself together after that," Beast Ranma replied, "Then you can thank me."

"For what?" Ranma tossed the horn to one side, "I could have taken him by myself, not that the help wasn't appreciated, of course."

"Right," Beast Ranma replied when he saw his counterpart stiffen, "Is something wrong?"

"Nabiki!" Time-Cop Ranma cried out, and all at once he was gone, moving so fast that he created a brief popping noise as he seemed to vanish from the spot before Beast Ranma was even aware that he was moving.

Just as instantly the Shogun found himself being body-slammed against the far end of the room as Ranma materialized once again, catching Nabiki and easing her to the floor with as much tenderness as he could manage under the circumstances.

"Nabiki?" he asked, cradling her chin and feeling along the ugly bruise marks left by the Shogun's hand where it had come near to snapping her neck like mere kindling. With the tips of his fingers Ranma assessed the degree of damage and judged that it had been a very near thing. Another instant or two later and her head might have been torn loose along the third and forth vertebrae. As it was he could extend a portion of his own life energy to mending the damage and insuring her survival.

Veil was surprised to find herself being cradled by Toltir as the cat-man god appeared behind her to prevent her having a rough landing. She turned to survey the situation with Nabiki before turning to see the Shogun, and in unconscious mimicry of someone else from the previous generation said, "Oh my..."

"Yeah," Toltir remarked, "This ought to really be something else."

The Shogun was stunned by his rude encounter with the wall, having dug a deep furrow in the already ruptured metal. With a snarl he pushed away from it with the glowing artifact in hand, prepared to deal with these petty annoyances once and for all time, and seeing the hated Saotome bent down with his back turned towards him was too good an opportunity to bypass.

He extended the artifact and prepared to utter a spell that would annihilate everything and everyone made of flesh with the instant it made physical contact, only before this could happen he felt a slight suddering go through his body...literally through as a moment later he felt an explosion in his chest. The Shogun looked down in dismay to find a fist protruding from his ruptured rib cage, clutching a slowly beating organ that had been much in disuse of late, but when squeezed to a pulp the effect was none the less quite alarming.

Ryoga and Megumi emerged from his cloak of shadows, through which the Beast Woman had teleported the both of them, seeing as this was the fastest way to commute out of Hell, following the psychic trail he had left them. Ryoga removed his hand from the Shogun's back and shook it a few times to dislodge the black ooze that passed for blood in the undead monster. The Shogun gurgled something to the effect of not believing this was happening, which was the last thing he did because Megumi's hand moved like a scythe and removed his head from his shoulders.

"Ugh," Ryoga winced as he examined his own hand, "Anybody got a towel?"

"We came as fast as we..." Megumi hesitated when she saw Ranma bent over Nabiki.

Ryoga took a step forward, hesitated, then asked, "Is she...?"

"She'll live," Toltir replied, helping Veil back to her feet, "Which is more than I can say for the other guy, and frankly I think he got off lucky."

Nabiki coughed, then looked up to see the cobalt blue eyes of Ranma boring down on her with no pretense or hesitation, to which she managed to gasp, "What took you so long, Saotome?"

"Traffic was murder," he gruffly replied, clutching her hand in his own hard-  
callused palm as he spoke hesitantly, "Nab-chan..."

She reached up with a finger and prevented him from continuing, "You won, that's all that matters. I take it we're ready to begin? So what's the hold up?"

"Ah...well..." Veil replied uncertainly.

"Begin?" Ranma asked as he lifted his eyes and for the first time took notice of the carousel full of bound and naked women, "You gotta be shitting me!'

"I wish..." Nabiki paused, glancing to one side at the floor that she lay upon before frowning, "What's that trembling noise?"

"Trembling?" Ryoga glancing at his own feet and saying, "There's something coming out from the ground..."

"I feel it too," Megumi gasped, "It's like a wave of evil...I've never felt it's like before!"

"I have," Toltir suddenly evidenced a rare expression of alarm, "Everybody brace yourselves! It's coming this way!"

"What is?" Veil asked, then gasped as she, too, felt the incredible evil of the thing approaching. At once she shot a glance to her friends on the carousel, and without pausing to ask what was happening she began to craft a spell of protection.

Beast Ranma saw the ground well up from near to the complex and hesitated in his rush to make it back to the others. He watched in dismay as a wall of already chewed up Earth slowly swelled in a telltale budge that he had witnessed on only one previous occasion, that being Jusenkyo before the place was destroyed forever.

One section rose up higher than the rest, dirt, brick, mortar and concrete falling away from ebony scales as a head the size of a battleship loomed up into the dwindling twilight of the rapidly dying day, revealed to all who could stare up from the huge gaping holes previously created in the ceiling of the complex as it loomed over the pale and foolish mortals that gazed upon its awful maw with terror.

Ranko was uncomfortably positioned to see the thing looming over them all, being the one in the center of the carousel laid out like a blue plate special. She fought instinctively against her bindings while Akira looked up in equal dismay and gasped, "I don't believe it...!"

"Dragons," Ryoga murmured under his breath, "Why does it always have to be Dragons...?"

"Maelstrom," Megumi breathed, unable to suppress a shudder as the very jaws of Hell itself opened wide to emit a roar that would terrify the Kami of heaven...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Worm Oroboros Notes: shadowmane

Where's a Dragonslayer when you really need one? Are Parn and Deedlit standing on call awaiting a heroic summons? How will the heroes cope with this menace now that the preliminaries are over and the real battle is about to begin? Tune in next time and see Ranma reveal his other self, and then sit back for a wild ride as the girls do their thing to liberate an entire cosmos! Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	17. Chapter 17

RanSquares15

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp; Others,  
with characters and situations created by my fellow fanfic writers Nicole Manders, Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers)

Chapter Fifteen.

HENTAI ALERT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!  
CONTAINS SCENES WITH GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS AND GRATUITOUS REFERENCES TO BODY PARTS AND/OR SEX WITH NEEDLESS REMINDERS THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF WOMEN IN THIS CHAPTER ARE CLOTHING DEFICIENT...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome-17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi Native to this Continuum.

Ranma Saotome-38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo-38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome-16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno-17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo-20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox Cheetah Saotome-17, brown-furred daughter of Kasumi and Ranma From Continuum #729058146 Humanoid Cheetah

It loomed over them, an impossible vision whose size and length defied rational comprehension and description, over five miles long and a hundred meters wide, the largest living thing that mortal eye had looked upon in the history of the planet with ebony scales that gleamed in the fading sun like the glistening embers of Ragnarok, the doom of all life, and gathered in a coil around that portion of Nerima that centered upon what was left of Furinkan High School.

From where he hovered only a kilometer away, Beast Ranma stared in dismay at the enormous size of the creature, which had been sleeping in an almost perfect circle, coiled around the building several times with its snake-like mass winding around and around the place that had been its power-center during the past twenty years when the creature had slept and gorged itself upon the blood of entire planet. It was more than five times the size of the creature that he remembered on their one previous encounter, a memory that had defined itself in Ranma's mind as the ultimate in waking horrors.

Maelstrom...the Dragon of Death and Chaos!

"Oh Kami...!" Yuan-Yen gasped as she strained herself to see the thing from her awkward position.

"Now that's big," Watazashi agreed, a sentiment that was wordlessly shared by the rest of their rather intimate circle of similarly helpless damsels in undress.

"FOOLISH MORTALS!" came the booming mental voice of the enormous Dragon, "YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE ME IN MY HOUR OF ASCENSION? YOU MAY HAVE STRUCK DOWN MY PAWNS AND SERVANTS, BUT YOU ARE TOO LATE TO PREVENT ME FROM CLAIMING ULTIMATE POWER! NOW DIE AS BEFITS THE WORTHLESS WORMS THAT YOU ARE!"

"Guess that makes it official," Toltir nodded, "He's pissed."

The helpless girls strapped to the machine could do nothing but look up at their doom with expressions of helplessness. The jaws of the creature were so wide that they looked as if they could swallow up Gojiro whole and take down Mothra as a chaser. The impossibly huge monster loomed poised to gobble both them and the device that they were strapped to in mere seconds, but as that huge head hung over them, prepared to strike, a single voice rang out, "I don't think so!"

The dragon's eyes-as large as houses, oriented on the single insignificant spec at the base of the pit that had dared to speak with such calm and arrogant defiance.

"FOOL," Maelstrom said as he made out the leather clad man bent down over his woman, the Witch who had herself proven to be only a minor annoyance, "YOU DARE STILL DEFY ME...I WHO NOW POSSESSES A POWER THAT THE GODS THEMSELVES MUST TREMBLE BEFORE? I HAVE GATHERED TO ME THE MIGHT OF THE EARTH ITSELF, GORGING MYSELF UPON THE SUFFERING OF YOU HUMANS AND YOUR PETTY EVILS. YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME NOW BUT A STEPPING STONE ON MY WAY TO GLORY AND ULTIMATE POWER!"

"Ultimate power?" Time-Cop Ranma said as he glanced down at Nabiki, who looked up at him with clear understanding in her eyes and a quiet acceptance that he would do what was needful. He stood up over her with his head bent down and murmured "You don't know what you're talking about, creep. You don't know the meaning of the words 'Ultimate Power,' but if you insist on threatening everybody, I'll be happy to show you."

"Oh my..." Veil looked at the leather-clad with a hand over her mouth, "That doesn't sound like the Uncle Ranma I know..."

"It ain't," Toltir said grimly as he laid a hand to her shoulder, "That ain't the Ranma you know...not by a longshot."

"Uh oh," Ryoga murmured faintly, "It's started..."

"What's started?" Megumi asked, feeling the hackles rise on the back of her neck as she suddenly sensed an enormous power welling up in the shape of the one who somewhat resembled her husband.

"He's giving himself over to the Power," Ryoga replied, "He's calling on Shiva. In another minute he won't even be the Ranma we remember."

The man who had been Saotome Ranma continued to keep his head bowed as thoughts and memories resurfaced within him. He was still looking at Nabiki, and as he stared at her she saw his eyes begin to change color and the hue of his skin noticeably darken.

Maelstrom decided he would not waste time discerning what the puny mortal had in mind and lunged forward, only to be met and repelled by an invisible boundary line. In astonished frustration he tried to breach this barrier, but it sternly resisted his efforts. Now thoroughly annoyed at between thwarted, he sought to breathe flames upon the barrier, but they were easily repelled. Now thoroughly confused, the enormous beast tried to discern the nature and source of this strange barrier, only to find that it emanated from the puny looking man who in some ways resembled that annoying Beast, Ranma.

Beast Ranma himself was staring in dismay as he felt something like electric tension play across the surface of his skin, and all at once the force lines gathered about the city to concentrate on one point as his counterpart stood his ground beneath him and continued his transformation, becoming less and less human by the instant.

The naked youths strapped to the machine all felt the wave of power that emanated from the man who-to some of them, at least-represented either a parent or a favorite uncle. Ranko herself was looking at the form of the one whom she now thought of as an overly grim version of her father and stared in disbelief as his complexion turned blue and his eyes now radiated crimson.

So close, thought the man who had been Ranma to himself, to have come so close to losing her...to losing Nabiki, his beloved Siva, and all for the preening ambitions of an insane, pretentious worm who used people like they were mere pawns that he could play with...his woman, his Siva! All the rage at the horror and injustice of it all helped him to slough off the outer shell of humanity that he wore and call the inner fires of the Destroyer to the surface. When at last he raised his head to gaze upon the dragon, his eyes were ruby-red with the color of blood and contained within their depths the very fires of destruction and the death of worlds, to which mere mortality was bit a fleeting illusion.

Long ago there had been a boy named Saotome Ranma whose one passion in life was the study of the martial arts. It was all that mattered to him, all he wanted and aspired to be, following his father's footsteps in the art even long after he had become aware of his guardian's moral failings and personal shortcomings. It was all he wanted to be, to be the best there was, to be stronger than his father in the art and to always win his battles.

Then one day he met another boy who seemed to share his passion in the art, his first real friend in childhood, who at first fought with him but later started making lunch and acting nice to him and treating him like he was something special, a unique sensation in his limited awareness. When they parted ways the boy had been so sad, but as time did with youth the memories were soon lost and forgotten. There were new things to learn, and he had a long way to go before he could be the best, as he wanted.

Then later he met the boy again...only surprise of surprises, he wasn't a boy, he was a remarkably cute and vivacious young woman. Ranma had felt incredibly awkward about this discovery, unable to believe that he had never known the difference before, yet unable to say why it made him feel so awkward. When that childhood friend turned out to be not only a girl but a fianc e it changed everything that Ranma had thought he had known about their past relationship, and it made it hard to think of her in these new terms where what had been boyish and manly was suddenly forbidden and Hentai. Ukyo was a cross dresser by choice, not because of a curse like the one Ranma lived under. It confused him to no end, and Ranma had to mentally adjust to his own reactions, the confused feelings that he felt whenever Ukyo made loving eyes towards him or was nice to him in ways that went beyond mere friendship.

And then came the day when he hurt his friend and crushed her dreams beneath his foot with no more thought or intention than one might feel stepping on an insect. He had thought he had been doing the right thing, that he had never intentionally led her on or deceived her of his intentions, and he had tried his best-in his stumbling, hesitant way-to make things right with her by maintaining their friendship long after he had married Akane.

Over the course of the next year, when that marriage steadily progressed from bliss to a waking nightmare, Ukyo had stuck by him and stayed true to their friendship, never truly giving up on her feelings towards Ranma but no longer actively pursuing a relationship either. It was she who recommended counseling when Akane's mental state began to deteriorate, along with their marriage, and Ukyo who all but dragged him to those therapy sessions where he had a chance to witness for himself what other people experienced in abusive relationships at the hands of spouses who were alternately pleasant and beastly, and Ukyo who tried to get him medical treatment when Akane did more than the usual amount of damage to his person. Ranma had fallen far during his year of hell, when his health had faltered and his ability to heal back from injuries was taxed beyond endurance.

In all that time Ukyo had never complained or cursed him for their friendship, but Ranma had never truly appreciated what hell he had put her through being forced to witness his life with Akane. He never truly understood her loyalty to him or appreciated how much he had depended on her as the only one who could hear his suffering or gave a damn about him, and then one day she took a sword in the heart for her troubles, sacrificing herself to save him, a last act of devotion for a man who had never given her anything back but agony and years of torment.

It was a very different man named Saotome Ranma who had later begun a quest seeking personal healing and redemption, not to bury the memories of his loss but to somehow find solace for the wounds to his pride and self-respect that been shattered beyond repair with the sacrifice of his Ucchan. By then the news of the fate of Shampoo had forced him to confront a side of himself that he did not like and could no longer stomach, seeing the arrogant pride and stubbornness that caused him to reject the two girls who professed their love for him in the only ways that they knew how, and for the false love of a woman who had always deep-down despised him.

His quest brought him halfway around the world into conflict after conflict, seeking to drown the rage and grief that crushed his soul with the cleansing fires of battle and carnage, where alone he felt alive, pressing himself to his limits without heed to the consequences, uncaring if death awaited him in the end. All that life held open to him was a glorious end in the heat of combat where he would struggle not to simply survive but to find redress for the guilt and remorse that overwhelmed him.

Of necessity he would sometimes find himself pitted against opponents far stronger than himself, which was what he yearned for since the ordinary level of opponent held no challenge for him any more. When bested by a superior fighter, he would rally some element within his soul that refused to bow down and surrender, and somehow he would emerge triumphant in spite of being the lesser of two opponents. It was these moments that he lived for, believing no other sort of life could remain for one who had failed in the ultimate test of his manhood...the ability to protect a beloved friend from his own hubris and folly.

One time Ranma faced a challenge too great to be overcome, and the result was that he got his head handed to him rather badly, leaving him broken and battered while barely clinging to life over an abyss of unimaginable torment. In spite of the pain and the cries of his body to surrender, and in spite of not caring if he lived or died, he still would not give up the struggle and sought to hold on beyond the limits of mere flesh, knowing that to fail was to doom more than himself as a consequence. In that moment he truly understood the meaning of his own life and the significance of his adventures. The faces of friends, enemies and loved ones flashed through his mind, each containing a potent message for his survival as each one represented something that held him back from the edge, that told him to fight on and not give in, to wage the impossible battle against death itself and somehow live on in spite of the impossible precariousness of his current situation.

And in that moment when extinction loomed before him, he caught the attention of an entity whose very existence was beyond the scope of mortal comprehension. This entity was less a being than a presence and the scope of its existence transcended anything in Ranma's imagination, and as he hovered between life and death this entity filled the whole of his awareness and demanded Ranma's unwavering attention. After the fleeting sensation of being like a gnat under a microscope as the being thoroughly examined him inside out, Ranma heard a voice speak into his mind, a voice like the opposite of thunder, sublime and all-  
encompassing with the hint of galaxies born and dying.

"Why do you fight to stay alive?" the voice had asked him, and for the longest time Ranma did not have an answer. When Ranma remained silent to the query, the voice continued, "You who hate yourself and despise your very existence...what have you to fight for? Let go, surrender this pain and embrace the karmic wheel of destiny. You have lived your life as few other mortals have...it is time to rest and embrace the peace that awaits you.

Peace? The very word inspired scorn in Ranma, and with an anger that went beyond reason he cried out, "THERE IS NO PEACE FOR ME! I CAN NEVER REST, NEVER BE FORGIVEN!"

"Then embrace death and face the penalty for failure that you believe that you deserve," the voice said reasonably, not in judgement or dismissal of Ranma's pain, or even contempt for his failings as a human being, "Why live on to endure new pain?"

"Because it's all I have!" Ranma had cried back into the void, "Pain is all I have to live for! It's what I deserve for what I did to her...to them...to all of them! There is nothing else for me but pain, and for that I will live! I will live but I will never SURRENDER!"

"You are wrong to blame yourself for what has happened," the voice argued persuasively, "It is of the past, let it go...it weighs you down and binds your soul to that which can never be..."

"I don't want to be free of my past!" Ranma had declared, "The past is where they still live and care for me...the future holds NOTHING! I won't let go and you can't make me!"

"Can't I?" the voice hinted menacingly of possibilities not dreamt of in mortal imagination, "Little man...who are you to define what I can and cannot do? Do you not know that I could extinguish your flickering mortal flame like the candle that it is? Pride and stubbornness will not avail you before me...I am the OMEGA, the end of all things, the death of possibilities and the renewal of all things, for from death new life must ever emerge, from the death of the old does the future take conception..."

"I don't care!" Ranma had declared, "You're nothing to me, nothing! You took my Ucchan and Akane! You took Shampoo...you took everything, but you will never take me! I will fight you forever!"

Another long pause before the voice spoke again, and when it did there was a sober note of reflection there as the presence said, "I do believe you would...you would fight me though you know in your heart that such battle is futile. You would fight because that is all there is for you, the struggle to endure. It is not courage or folly that makes you what you are...you truly know no other way to live than to engage in battle with that which would destroy you."

"So?" Ranma asked, and it was not his usual pride or pig-headedness that prompted him to do so. He knew the power of the presence dwarfed him and anything in his experience, but he also knew that he would not kowtow to such a being simply because it was stronger than himself. Ranma had never liked bullies, and he wasn't about to start submitting to one, no matter the situation.

"Little mortal...you interest me greatly," the voice informed him, "How strong is your desire to live? Is it as strong as your refusal to lose in combat? If it is so, then I will make of you an offer."

"What kind of offer?" Ranma asked, considering that it could not be much worse than any devil's pact he had ever made with Nabiki.

"To make you live again, I would join with you and make of you my aspect," the voice replied, "You will be your own man...nothing about you will change, and what you do with the rest of your existence is your own concern...but I will be a part of you, with you always, there to call upon in times of need, for which I will manifest in the form that I choose. Only one condition I will ask...that you keep your will to win alive, and you will never surrender, for the day that you are defeated in battle is the day that you will truly die. The choice is yours to make...choose wisely."

What could he do? The voice explained it to Ranma so that it sounded like a reasonable proposition, and afterwards he woke up from his seeming dream, restored to health and in his proper body. He went on to win his next fight, and the ones after that, the struggle no less difficult than before, only now there was one subtle difference...Ranma knew that he would never be truly hurt or exhausted, that his strength would restore itself with only a moment of rest, and that when he needed to call upon an extra amount of Ki energy, the power would be there to tap into. Gradually he learned that he could exceed his mortal limits and go beyond the scope of his previous power levels. His power was potentially limitless, but never more of it on call than what he needed for a given situation. As long as he kept up his will to fight, the power would be with him, and in time he learned to call upon the rest of Shiva's gift, learning in time the identity of the entity that bore a thousand different names, the living embodiment of destruction and renewal.

That power swelled up within him now as Ranma changed outwardly to reflect his other nature, and then he was the Avatar of Shiva, the embodiment of destruction, looking up at an astonished dragon who thought itself the equal to his fury.

He had lost Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo, no way in hell was he going to lose Nabiki! And that went for all the other women in sore need of his protection, especially the one called Ranko!

"WHAT...IS THIS POWER THAT I SENSE WITHIN YOU, A MERE MORTAL?" the Dragon asked in almost comical confusion.

"Who are you calling Mortal?" the transformed Ranma asked, and then he began to slowly rise up into the sky levitating out of the pit to confront the dragon on a more even level. When he hovered in the air at near eye-level to the creature there was an attitude of otherworldly superiority in his bearing that went far beyond the arrogance and cockiness that normally typified this dour version of Saotome Ranma.

"Well?" the blue skinned Ranma asked as his eyes blazed like twin infernos, you gonna make the first move or just leave it up to me?"

The Dragon did not take kindly to that mocking tone of voice and summoned up his power, breathing flames as hot as a thousand blazing oil refineries at the annoying insect, illuminating the sky as though a miniature sun had turned the spreading dusk into full noon light. The heat alone was like a wave of scorching inferno that threatened to burn and blister the naked girls exposed underneath it, though it was but a momentary flash that coiled around the presence that was Ranma.

But when the blaze died out the blue-skinned Ranma remained hovering where he was, smiling all the while before saying, "Refreshing...but is that all you've got? If so, then I guess it's my turn!"

He cupped both hands together and shaped a ball of energy that glowed with blue-  
white intensity, the size of a soccer ball but with a core that burned with the color of diamonds. He made a motion of pushing it forward and suddenly it flew from his hands to strike Maelstrom full in the face, blinding the Dragon and causing him great agony throughout the entire length of his massive body.

"Veil!" Ekko called out, her normally calm and confident voice holding just the slightest edge of urgent haste bordering on desperation, "Now while the monster is distracted, start the machine!"

"R-Right," Veil replied, shaking off her lethargic reaction to seeing the clash of twin powers far above. She turned immediately to the control panel before her and started making some adjustments, and then a humming noise resounded in the pit as the machine began vibrating slightly, and then with an audible clank began to extend its hidden members.

"Hey...what?" Silver gasped as she and the others glanced down, only to find the space between her legs was now occupied by a hydraulic arm from which protruded a set of ominously shining bulbous-headed objects.

"Omigawd..." Ryeka said with rounded eyes, "Those things aren't what they look like, are they?"

The machine arms slowly, inexorably moved forward until the tips of the protruding objects touched the outer lips of each girl, slowly easing forward until they found and guided themselves up and into the moistening flaps of skin that covered the opening to their respective crotches, and then Tachi gasped, "What do you think?!"

"Oh my..." Atari's eyes got very round indeed, feeling the object moving in her begin to vibrate in an altogether pleasant manner, the smooth surface easily sliding into the cleft of her most intimate moistness.

"I knew it!" Rinse exclaimed, "You guys just live to hump me silly, don't you?"

"What do you mean you?" Lylac asked, glancing sidelong to Ekko, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," Ekko replied, fetching the purple haired girl a pleasantly insinuating smile, "And the best is yet to cum, I promise."

"I think...she means...that the gesture is meant for all of us," Watazashi said with a curious range of facial expressions, "But it's a not an altogether unpleasant feeling at that..."

"Oh wow!" Kinko's eyes got very round, "It feels...so nice down there...!"

"I quite agree," Tsuyori grinned, trying to position her hips so that she could enjoy the maximum thrusting power, "We definitely need one of these back at home..."

"I completely agree with you there, Sis," Kama Sutra concurred as she, too, did her best to accommodate herself to her own semi-impaling.

Akira glanced at Ranko, who remained where she was at the center of it all, but who was clearly dividing her attention between him and the battle raging far above them. He gave her an almost apologetic shrug and said, "I guess...we'd better do our part now to help out."

"Uh...huh?" Ranko blanched, her attention now swiveling to the member that was extending from his own loins, which presently was at half-mast but slowly swelling as she saw his eyes orient towards the naked Silver.

"So far everything checks out nominal," Veil remarked, "The device is performing within desired parameters...that's odd..."

"What is?" Nabiki asked, unable to help staring at the sight of sixteen girls being simultaneously humped in unison as the machine began to slowly piston them up and down with identical rods sliding into their vulvas.

"I'm detecting a slight anomaly, but it's not in the machinery," Veil frowned, "It's one of the living components..."

"Oh my...oh my...oh my...!" Tinkerbell exclaimed, her own face contorting with a mixture of pleasure and discomfort.

"What's wrong with her?" Ryoga asked, his own perceptions informing him which of the girls was starting to weaken.

"I don't really know," Veil replied, "But these readings show that she is peaking prematurely. I'm going to have to do an emergency shut down and reboot the system. If I don't, then the dissonance that she's experiencing might tear her apart and jeopardize the overall configuration."

"If you do that, how long until you can restart the machine?" Nabiki asked.

"Difficult to say," Veil replied, "As much as ten minutes at least, but we're going to have to find a replacement unit, one able to handle the strain without endangering their entire nervous system."

"New components, huh?" Toltir asked, "Got anyone in mind?"

"It will have to be me," Veil said resolutely, "Don't try to talk me out of it this time, Uncle...I know what needs doing, and I am adjusting these controls so that I can operate the machine from the inside."

"Excuse me?" Nabiki blinked, "You're going to go on that machine and control it from there? Pardon me for saying so, but that sounds bloody risky!"

"It is," Veil said simply, "But it has to be this way, and I was prepared all along to do my part. I want to share this with my friends and the others, it's nothing less than my duty as a Goddess."

"I still don't think your Mom would approve," Toltir remarked, "But I'm sure she'd be proud of you wanting to take a stand and all that."

"Sounds to me more like you actually want to ride that machine you created," Megumi remarked with a pleasant expression, "Not that I can blame you since I find the idea myself quite tempting."

"Mother!" Lamyra called from the machine in typical daughterly exasperation.

"I may not have designed this machine or crafted its special functions," Veil replied, "But I've made enough alterations and improvements that I'm confident that it will perform as needed. I know what I am doing here, so I am the one best suited for this assignment."

She began removing her apparel even as the machine subsided and withdrew the mechanical arms and moisture-slicked dildos from the loins of each of the women. There were some disappointed noises as well as grunts and groans of relief from various quarters, but Tinkerbell just heaved a sigh, having nearly passed out with the approach of her last climax. She hung where she was feeling mingled guilt and disappointment that her hypersensitive nervous system had once more betrayed her, which brought a sense of burning shame, even though she knew it was not her fault that she could not perform with the others.

"What happened with you?" Yuan-Yen asked with concern.

"Are you all right?" asked a similarly anxious Cheetah.

"N-Nothing," Tinkerbell grunted as the straps binding her to the machine were undone by the sensitive fingers of the Honey-blonde Goddess, "I just need to rest a little..."

Meanwhile overhead the uneven battle raged between the transformed Ranma and the humungous Dragon. The energy streamers that colored up the twilight sky would have been truly spectacular under any circumstances, but the furious play of attack and counter-thrust that went on between them was appalling to behold, as Beast Ranma himself could attest, being no stranger to mystical duels of a formidable nature.

In mere moments these exchanges grew so intense that he could no longer bear hovering in such close proximity of their battle and decided to seek cover by joining up with the others, just in time before a huge detonation shook the air and the ground itself trembled in anticipation.

This did not go unnoticed by the people on the ground as Megumi looked up in time to see her husband approaching. They acknowledged each other with relieved looks and a brief exchange before attention returned to the escalating battle as more and more devastating power was unleashed, scorching the air with the distinctly unpleasant smell of Ozone.  
"What are they doing up there?" Megumi asked.

"Beats me," Beast-Ranma replied, "And I'm not sure I wanna know either..." a brief glance to the side caused him to raise an eyebrow as he saw their daughter strapped in with the other girls, but that was all the time for recognition of the bizarre contraption before an even more intense eruption of fire turned the darkening sky almost white, then rippled like the mother of all Auroras.

"Ranma's just doing what he has to do for the sake of all of us," Ryoga replied to their question, "And he's winning."

"How can you tell?" Tinkerbell asked as she winced from yet another detonation.

"Ranma never loses," Nabiki replied calmly, "No matter what the odds, he'll do whatever it takes to insure our survival."

Maelstrom was not having a good time of it, finding himself taxed in the arcane duel by which he hurled vast amounts of his stored up energy, squandering what had taken him nearly two decades to accumulate in a futile effort to crush the stubborn gnat that continued to defy him. Spell after spell failed to register upon his opponent while he had the distinct and unwelcome impression that the human was laughing at him...at Maelstrom, the scourge of humanity itself!

"Let me take a wild guess," the annoying little eye-speck remarked with casual indifference to the titanic forces roiling all around them, "You've had a five thousand years obsession with human beings and you think we're a menace to your kind, so you wanted to destroy humanity before we were even fully on our way towards civilization."

"CIVILIZED?" Maelstrom heaped all the scorn of millennia of hate and loathing into that statement, "YOU ARE NOT CIVILIZED...HUMANS ARE INCAPABLE OF TRULY BEING CIVILIZED! YOU CREATURES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN PRETENTIOUS MONKEYS WHO FELL OFF THE EVOLUTIONARY TREE WHEN MY KIND WERE ANCIENT AND WISE BEYOND YOUR POWERS OF IMAGINATION!"

"Oh really?" Ranma replied with a knowing smirk, "I dunno, I can imagine quite a lot..."

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!" Maelstrom thundered, "YOUR SPECIES IS A BLIGHT UPON THIS PLANET! YOU DESPOILED THE WORLD AND SLAUGHTERED ALL THAT WAS IN YOUR PATH! IT WAS INEVITABLE THAT YOU WOULD COME INTO CONFLICT WITH MY KIND, AND SURE ENOUGH, YOU SOUGHT TO EXTERMINATE DRAGON KIND AS I PREDICTED LONG AGO WHEN I SOUGHT TO URGE MY BROTHERS TO JOIN ME IN YOUR ERADICATION!"

"Oh yeah?" Ranma said scornfully, "Take a look around you, Maelstrom...see what you've made of the world by the use of your power? This was a teeming planet once, full of life that was evolving in a positive direction, but under your dominion it's become a place of death and devastation, and all to satisfy your hunger for revenge! You're worse than humanity ever was! You're the blight that needs eradication!"

"I ONLY USED YOUR OWN PETTY AVARICE AND VICE TO UNDO YOU!" the Dragon roared in protest, "YOUR GREED AND HATE DID THIS, I ONLY MANIPULATED THE EVIL THAT WAS WITHIN YOU!"

"Manipulating the dark side of human nature ain't nothing to boast about, pal," Ranma replied, "You could have appealed to our better aspects and made the world a paradise, but instead you squandered your chances, and in doing so you doomed your own kind!"

"MY KIND?" the dragon scoffed, "PREPOSTEROUS!"

"It's no joke, dude!" Ranma replied, "Other dragons had long ago adjusted to life in a world full of humans, some learning to blend in by assuming a human shape and integrating themselves in the general population. Those who couldn't adjust either left or got plowed under..."

"WHY SHOULD WE HAVE MOVED OR ADAPTED TO YOUR KIND?" Maelstrom demanded to know, "WE WERE HERE LONG BEFORE THE FIRST ANTHROPOID DROPPED ITS SEED FROM THE LIFE TREE!"

"It's the rule of life, adapt or die," Ranma replied, "The climate changed, the world became a friendly place to humans, not Dragons. Don't blame us, blame evolution."

"IT MATTERS NOTHING TO ME!" Maelstrom replied, "WE WERE LORDS OF THE EARTH AND HEAVENS! YOU WERE BENEATH OUR NOTICE UNTIL YOUR KIND GREW PROLIFIC AND BEGAN TO CROWD OUR HABITATS AND LIVING SPACES! WHEN YOU DISCOVERED THE SMELTING OF METALS IT SIGNALED TO ME THAT OUR TIME WAS WANING AND THAT SOON YOU'D BE SEEKING OUT OUR LAIRS AND RAIDING OUR NESTS TO KILL OUR YOUNG BEFORE THEY WERE OLD ENOUGH TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES! YOUR KIND IS GUILTY OF GENOCIDE AGAINST MY KIND...AND THAT IS NOT EVEN TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE WARS YOU WAGE AGAINST YOUR OWN SPECIES..."

"I'm not arguing that human beings are perfect," Ranma said calmly, "But it might have helped if your kind had been willing to teach us when we were young and ignorant of life. You claim to be so wise and powerful, but what did your wisdom teach you about helping others who needed the benefit of your experience? Sure people stumble around and do bad stuff to one another, but we didn't create this Hell, you did! You condemned both human beings and those dragons still left in the world to having to live among all this death and anarchy! So don't even try to come off as a wise and powerful judge condemning us for behaving like children! You're the one whose madness created all this, and it's time for me to end it."

"END IT?" Maelstrom growled, "HOW?"

"Like this!" Ranma declared, and suddenly the energy streamers curling around his body shifted from blue to red spectrum, and all at once the energies he was pouring out redoubled themselves, ripping apart Maelstrom's attempts to counter those energies and assaulting the dragon himself, ripping past his psychic barriers and causing the enormous creature to experience agony all along the length of its body.

"HOW-HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?" the Dragon cried in agony, "YOU ARE HUMAN, AND HUMANS ARE WEAK...!"

"Wrong on both counts," the blue-skinned being who outwardly had resembled Saotome Ranma replied, "You talk about being ancient and wise...but there's something in the universe far older and more powerful than Dragons...OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT MY KIND EXISTED WHEN YOURS WAS TRILLING CILLIA PLAYING IN POOLS OF PROTOPLASM?"

As Ranma spoke a form took shape around and above him, of a man-like being whose outline obscured the very stars themselves and looked down upon the Dragon with pitiless eyes that were ancient and all knowing. Maelstrom gazed up into those eyes and for the first time in millennia felt terror grip his draconic soul, and in a voice that quailed with terror he cried, "YOU ARE AN ARCHON! BUT HOW? YOUR KIND IS ABOVE THE NOTICE OF PETTY HUMANITY...!"

"YOU ARE WRONG, MAELSTROM," the voice that no longer even sounded like Saotome Ranma informed him, "WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING, SO MUCH THAT YOU TAKE FOR GRANTED IS BUT FOOLISHNESS, YOUR HATRED BLINDING YOU TO THE TRUTH OF YOUR OWN EXISTENCE. YOU ARE NOT THE AVENGER OF YOUR KIND, YOU ARE THE DESPOILER OF LIFE ITSELF, AND IT IS MY TASK TO UNDO YOUR EVIL AND MAKE RIGHT WHAT IS WRONG, FOR HUMANITY IS MY CONCERN, AND TO TRESPASS AGAINST THEM IS TO STAND ATHWART MY GRAND DESIGN FOR ALL LIFE UPON THIS PLANET."

"NOOO!" the dragon cowered-or did as much so as a beast five miles long might do when confronted by an aspect of the Universal order himself. The cry went on and redoubled itself when the huge hands of the giant reached down and seized hold of the Dragon's snake-like body, lifting it into the air as flames began to engulf Maelstrom, and his body literally came apart as it was instantly reduced to its constituent elements.

The energy contained within the Dragon's enormous body was released like a supernova, but those hands shaped and contained the power so that it did not scorch the Earth but was harmlessly defused and dissolved like a fine mist of morning, spreading those tendrils of life energy out so that they returned to the Earth and could revitalize the planet.

Down below this cyclopean event those human mortals whose fate was being decided stared in awed and horrified amazement as the enormous Dragon was transformed into a fiery cinder. Even Nabiki was moved as she witnessed Maelstrom's ending, feeling it on a fundamental level through the elevated perceptions of a Lore Master and knowing beyond question that they were but perceiving the mere surface level of what transpired in the Heavens. Maelstrom did not merely die a mortal death, his spirit became a mist that washed over Nerima and gradually filtered out to renew a tired and exhausted planet.

"W-what was all that about?" Beast Ranma asked, disturbed that even his own elevated senses could not sort out the conflicting sensations stirred up by the dragon's ending.

"What is that thing?" Megumi asked in equal tones of hushed disbelief, "It's like he could tear the world apart with his bare hands..."

"That is my brother," Ryoga nodded sagely, his own tone oddly transformed as he alone seemed to witness these affairs with a calm and purposeful expression, "The hidden aspect of Saotome Ranma, whose current form is but the outward manifestation of Shiva."

"Shiva?" Tinkerbell asked with a nonplussed expression, her perceptions so badly overwhelmed by it all that it was a struggle for her to remain both sane and conscious."

"That's right," Nabiki replied in a voice that conveyed none of her usual aloofness, "That's what my iinazuke becomes when pushed beyond mortal limits...the living embodiment of pure and total destruction."

Ryoga moved away from the others, lifted his head and called out, "Shiva! Hear me, my brother!"

Very slowly and deliberately the ponderous giant turned his phantom head to regard them with eyes that had seen the deaths of stars and the birth of galaxies, and once more in tones that filled the air with his presence he responded, "WHO DARES TO CALL ME?"

"It is I," Ryoga replied, "Your brother, Vishnu! Your assigned task has been completed, there is no longer a need for you to remain here. Restore to us your mortal avatar that he can complete his own lesser assignment, then matters will again achieve a relative balance."

"I SERVE THE BALANCE," the giant responded, "CHAOS AND ORDER ARE AS ONE TO ME...FOR I AM WHAT I AM...THE OMEGA OF ALL THINGS!"

"You were present at the creation, you will be present when the Dream is ended," Ryoga replied, "But the time for you is not yet at hand. Leave now and restore to these people the one named Saotome Ranma, for he has his own life to fulfill and the aspect that is the you within him must be returned to the dreaming! Life itself demands this, but I merely petition you, my brother."

"VISHNU, YOU ARE WISE AS ALWAYS," the giant responded, "I GO NOW THAT THE DREAM OF THE ONE NAMED RANMA MAY BE RESUMED WITH NO FURTHER INTERRUPTION."

And then the ghostly figure faded out, leaving the night sky to shine down into the pit that had once been underneath Furinkan High School. A form fell through the night and landed awkwardly in a clear space near at hand, and then straightened himself, turning around with now-darkened eyes and a slightly befuddled expression to reveal himself as Saotome Ranma.

"About time," Nabiki said, unable to conceal her relief as she approached him with a hesitant hand to touch his arm, earning a look of slow comprehension and recognition in those dark eyes that normally were as blue as cobalt, "Are you done playing around? Because we have work to do, and these delays just keep it from happening."

"Work?" Ranma asked the word as though it were foreign to his nature, but then his eyes tracked the "Birthday Cake" full of girls and he said, "Oh...you mean that."

"Well, what did you think she meant?" asked Ryoga, his own voice now back to normal, "Frankly I think we'd better get this over with before those girls catch pneumonia..."

"Well, it's about bloody time that somebody remembered us!" called Silver in annoyance.

"Are we gonna get on with this or what?" asked an equally annoyed Kinko.

"Are you through holding us up?" Nabiki asked as she fetched Ranma a playfully chiding look, "Everybody was waiting for you to get done up there, and you go and take your bloody time..."

"Hey, give me a break!" Ranma responded, "I just fought a friggin' dragon, for Kami's sake!"

"Excuses, excuses," Nabiki replied, hiding the smile she wore by looking elsewhere with pretended indifference.

"We had best take advantage of the potent Ki energy that remains in the area," Ekko called out.

"Oh yes," Tenko agreed, "This much life energy will certainly prove useful in stabilizing the pattern."

"Hold up a minute," Ranma glanced at the one naked girl standing off to one side, "Tinkerbell, isn't it? You were just excluded because of something...I didn't catch what exactly, but it was on the tip of my awareness..."

"I..." Tinkerbell blushed and looked down at her bare feet, "I have this problem...I'm very pain sensitive...comes from having these really sharp perceptions..."

"I wondered about that," Nabiki said with sudden realization, "You're Perfume's daughter, right? She was the Tribal Enforcer for the Amazons when I studied to be a Lore Master. She's a Sentinel, someone gifted-or cursed-by the Gods to serve as point woman for her people. Small wonder you couldn't handle the tolerances needed by the machine...which of course begs the question of why you were ever selected in the first place."

"Maybe the pendant made an error?" Ryoga suggested.

"Possibly," Nabiki murmured thoughtfully, "Or else there was another reason why she was chosen...or perhaps it was must a slight miscalculation in the program..."

"I never miscalculate a figure!" Ekko called out from her side of the carousel, "My equations for this operation were flawless!"

"Oh no?" challenged Lylac, "What about the time you set us down on the wrong planet when we borrowed that Oni saucer?"

"I just knew you were going to bring that up," Ekko replied in mild annoyance, "And as I keep telling you, it's because the instruments were calibrated to a program language with which I was not familiar. I was nine at the time and it could have happened to anyone..."

"Sure," Ryeka responded skeptically, "That's what you geniuses always say..."

"Please don't bring your grandmother into this," Tachi groaned, "I'm getting a headache just thinking about that..."

"Can we go already?" Cheetah asked.

"A good point," Lamyra said, "Hanging around like this isn't any more my idea of a good time than my parents."

"Too true," Beast Ranma turned to the others, "So what about it? We gonna get started?"

"Sure thing," Ranma nodded, "Only we're gonna make one small adjustment to the program."

"You're gonna substitute for the kid?" asked Toltir knowingly.

Ranma did a double-take and said, "When did you get here? Ah, never mind...and yeah, I'll take the boy's place. Nabiki...you feel like doing your part in all this?"

Nabiki sounded genuinely surprised, "Ranma-kun...are you asking me to go down with you?"

"Hey, it's for a good cause," Ranma looked at her with a slight smirk, "Saving all creation and all that. The idea ain't really mine, it's from Shiva. He thought maybe we could help stabilize things by grounding the pattern."

"I'm afraid that won't work," Toltir said, "The kid with the pendant's the one plugged into Yggdrasil, so she needs to be right where she is...but your idea's a good one on another level. Check near the base and you'll discover that thing has a second harness plug for a backup. If you really want to do this, then I'll provide the altar if you'll provide the juice, and the kids can do their thing. That way we can pull this off and still be home in time for dinner."

"Sounds workable," Ranma turned and asked, "Now about it, Nabiki? You game to try this?"

"Why...Saotome," Nabiki slowly smiled, "You make the most interesting of propositions."

"You sure you two wanna do this?" Ranma asked, "'Cause me'n the misses have a lot more experience doing the nasty..."

"Quite true," Megumi leaned her chin upon his shoulder and levitated herself into a horizontal position, "You might even say we're accomplished experts."

"Unfortunately," Toltir replied, "This is a spell about renewal, and it's better if it's a first-timer for the parties involved. The Ranko kid's never been with a man before, and Akira's never been with her, so it's like the both of them are virgins, while with you two..." the cat-god rolled his eyes as though petitioning the heavens.

"It's a first time for the both of us," Ranma said, taking Nabiki's hand, "And that means it's gotta be something special that we're both gonna remember for a long, long time. In the meantime, little lady," he turned to Tinkerbell, who hovered a short ways off, "I made a promise to deliver you safe and sound to somebody who's waiting for you back home. I gave my word...so stay out of trouble and don't make me a liar, you got that?"

"O-kay," Tinkerbell replied in her musical voice, "No problem..."

"Not that I want to talk either of you two out of this," Ryoga spoke up, "Kami-  
sama knows I've been urging it for the longest time...but you sure this is the way you two want to remember your first time?"

"We're sure," Nabiki said just a bit too promptly, "But thanks for asking, Ryo-  
kun. Just stay here and...try not to get any nosebleeds."

"Yeah," Ranma took Nabiki by the hand, "Meanwhile we'd better get dressed for the occasion. Mind if I do the undressing, Nabiki? It's...something I've been wanting to do all day long..."

"You think I'm going to stop you?" Nabiki asked with a lifted eyebrow, then betrayed just a hint of nervousness as she asked, "I know Daddy was the one who insisted I honor the pledge..."

Ranma stopped her with a finger over her lips and said, "I gave my word, now it's time I keep it."

To which-for once-Nabiki found that she had no clever quip on hand, but her eyes shone with amusement that was as bright as any promise...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Cumming of Age: shadowmane

Matters shift into a high note as the gang mounts (or is mounted by) the carousel of delights and Nabiki finally gets some. Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	18. Chapter 18

RanSquares16

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi and my fellow fanfic writers with characters and concepts created by Nicole Manders,  
Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers)

HENTAI ALERT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!  
CONTAINS SCENES INVOLVING LEWD ACTS WITH ARTIFICIAL ENHANCEMENTS AND STATES OF MALE AND FEMALE NUDITY IN THE PLAYERS THAT MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO CARDIOLOGY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Ranma Saotome-38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo-38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.  
Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219

THE WHEEL OF ECCHI

Central Circle

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Dimensional Nexus Owner of the Pendant Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185

Inner Ring

Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Dimensional Nexus Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Dimensional Nexus Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Dimensional Nexus Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox Dimensional Nexus

Outer Circle

Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Dimensional Nexus Cheetah Saotome-17, brown-furred daughter of Kasumi and Ranma From Continuum #729058146 Humanoid Cheetah Dimensional Nexus Lamyra Saotome-17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi Native to this Continuum.  
Dimensional Nexus Ekko Daitokuji -16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Yuan-Yen Tendo -16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tachi Kuno-17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921

A long time ago, before there was even a Universe worth calling home, the Elder Gods were having what one might technically call a working session in which they talked out their intended design for that which would become the Universe as we mortals understand it.

Back then things were fairly chaotic and disorganized, with Lead changing into Mercury and then back to Gold under perfectly ordinary conditions, and up and down tended to be interchangeable with no main reference for relativity to get a fresh head start. There were no laws of physics to govern the workings of reality, but the Elder Gods intended to fix this creative oversight, hence their crafting of the first Reality Mainframe Computer System (which for reasons having nothing to do with spelling they tended to refer by the code-named EDEN-  
01).

Of course there were some technical problems that could baffle even cosmic engineers of this caliber, and among those problems was deciding which of their number would act as supervisor and maintenance engineer to keep things running on track during periodic upgrades.

So imagine, if you will-and this is strictly a Metaphorical concept, not meant to be confused with the way the Gods presented themselves or actually operated-  
-a gathering of Computer Nerds, Hackers, Programmers, Debuggers and System Designers arguing with Engineers on the technical fine points of what temperature water should boil at and whether or not a platypus was a silly name for a intermediate creature's stage of evolution. You would have your usual body-types of thin, emaciated scarecrow-like figures who did not look as if they had recently seen the light of day (of course this was before they invented daylight) wrangling with overweight bearded fellows whose shirts bore coffee stains and whose fingers were nicotine-tarred to the point of looking ink-  
stained. You would have your nerdy, bespeckled computer worms talking Technicalese with confused looking software designers, who would periodically interrupt a lecture with questions like, "You want the thing to do WHAT?" and "All right, but if the system crashes, it's not my problem!"

(Of course this is a not an accurate representation of what the Elder Gods are usually like, but in relative terms it gives you a pretty good notion of how they behave when they're not being observed by any mortals. They tend to clean their act up a bit when they've got an audience, but mostly they're just like regular folks, a bunch of hard-working slackers who work things out by mainly trial and a whole lot of errors, which explains a lot when you really think long and hard about the workings of the Cosmos)

A problem arose when their earlier projected models for a single Uni-dimensional Cosmos proved totally unviable (as projected by the L-5er-or ELVER-Universal experiment) The Gods being somewhat new to their position, they came to see the need for structuring the greater whole of reality into a series of Multidimensional overlapping parallel continuums that would overlap and at times cancel one another out in the course of their gradual evolution. This new Cosmos would contain all of the possible realities as either Manifest or Unmanifested concepts that could be realized under conditions that were to be determined by the random free will of the beings who would come to populate these dimensions, and sometimes it would be necessary to stabilize the overall pattern by allowing some "fine-tuning" adjustments to maintain the stability of the overall pattern. These adjustments would take the form of "wishes" that would be granted to individual mortals at certain set times and places, during which the elder gods would take advantage of a wish to make various other changes to a timeline while the pattern was in momentary flux and reality would temporarily shift back to its original state of mutability while the wish was being manifested.

The only question, of course, was which of the Elder Gods to tap for the all-  
important task of administering these wishes? This presented a problem as most of the likely candidates with the necessary skills and talents were not entirely suitable for so delicate a task as ensuring that reality was stabilized by the casting of these wishes.

Hevrig the Binder declared that he was entirely too busy to concern himself with a mere supervisory oversight position, even with the AI multitasking functions that had been inherited from the AIVAS unit that was his personal creation. Etragar the Healer was likewise too preoccupied with the survivors of the previous reality experiment that had gone somewhat awry, while Genmak the Void and Surtag the Destroyer each volunteered for the position, seen great opportunity to sow mischief and disorder through the use of these wishes. Borune Worldsmith was rather occupied with the assemblage of the various inhabited worlds that were to come into reality and begged off being considered, but argued against the using of these wishes to further one's personal agenda (This resulted in the Chaos flaw seeping into his own project due to his momentary inattention in filtering out such viruses to the system, but even Elder Gods have been known to screw up royal on occasions). And, of course, Murphy kept pointing out the flaws in the whole divine plan, but of course everyone usually ignored him.

Relat the Piper felt that he had better things to do than officiate with mortals (such things just were not done in those days, you know) while Varros the Hoarder didn't see why HE had to bother himself with such a trivial assignment. Warnas the Sword thought the idea was intriguing, but the God of Empire and Intrigue was opposed to the potential for chaos that was inherent in such a random thing as wishing for the unattainable. Parune the Sylph volunteered her opinion that it was a good thing to make allowances for Free Will (the Elder Gods didn't really have genders back then, but it's convenient to think of them that way) but noted with caution the dangers of administering too much free will to their charges, and she had to beg off as she did not think herself qualified for such an awesome task (which makes her somewhat unique in this assembly as Elder Gods are not usually known for their modest self-appraisal.

Into this midst of lounging about divine Hosts there came the wandering Elder God of randomness and disorder, who was attracted to the sounds of loud, protracted shouting about the probable ancestry of one particular old codger who was a good deal older than the young upstart questioning his authority on a particular subject. Toltir paused in one of his many forms (he had so many even he had long ago lost count) to hear the subject raised about the suitable requirements for the being (or beings) who would be entrusted with the oversight position. It sounded like a lovely debate, and he detected at once the general source of most of the disagreement...namely that none of his peers trusted any one of their fellow Elders with getting the job right, and with quite valid reasons for disqualifying those players who did sound a note of interest.

So, sensing the potential for sowing mischief into the new Reality program, Toltir volunteered his services, much to the amusement of his peers, who found the whole idea of the God of Mischief and Disorder undertaking such a position enormously hilarious. Toltir was the one in their midst who was so random that he could not even settle on a single stable form (they tended to ignore him a lot more in those days, even though days themselves had yet to be invented). It was while they were laughing that Toltir smiled and quietly assimilated himself into the program, assuming the duties, office and title of Wish Bringer and Reality Overseer thus ever afterwards only appearing to Mortal eyes on such occasions as would be appropriate to one his position.

It was some billions of years (and many upgrades) later that Toltir chose one such event to directly involve himself, mainly because some foolish mortal had gone and thrown the whole system out of whack, necessitating the extraordinary and unorthodox methods that were currently being employed to restart the system and shore up the effects of a major-level Virus. It contented him to sit back and let others do the work while looking on and smirking at the proceedings, expecting to have a very nice show in the next few minutes that would more than justify the trip. He was glad he had set his VCR (Reality Viewing Control device) on record so that he could savor the moment over and over, because if the operation was successful (and with him overseeing things how could it be otherwise?) in another few of those the temporal coordinates in which he was presently residing would be voiced out and replaced with a fully functioning and much more stable reality, one that wasn't in danger of eminent collapse within the next full cycle.

Of course half the fun for him was in watching the principles involved in the operation go through various states of preparation, most particularly the Avatars, Ranma and Nabiki upon whom everything else hinged, and naturally enough Saotome was providing by far the most entertainment.

"You nervous?" asked Ryoga as he finished helping Ranma strap himself into his mobile harness, which was connected to the base of the carousel-like device.

"Me?" Ranma naturally scoffed, "Are you kidding me, Ryoga? I'm Saotome Ranma! I laugh at danger, I sneer at death, I shrug at misfortune, I can now even add the title Dragon Slayer to my credit..."

"You're terrified," Ryoga smirked.

"Petrified," Ranma murmured faintly as he looked down at his exposed private areas then turned his head and contemplated a naked Nabiki, already laid out and waiting on a ready-made altar that Toltir had summoned up from out of no where.

"Well," Ryoga sagely counseled, "If it's any help, try keeping in mind that this is the same Nabiki who used to tease and torment you when we were still children, often making your life a living hell for fun and profit."

"Yeah," Ranma said gruffly, "I really miss those days..."

Beast Ranma made an equally gruff noise at that, "Not me...I'm lucky I even survived my High School years...of course that had a lot to do with this being over a Hellmount, which attracts entirely the wrong crowd of monsters and beasties that I've had to fight on a regular basis. Give me nice, ordinary every day martial arts masters out to challenge my school to see whose Ryu is the best, or even jealous boyfriends...I'd take that any day to one of the low-  
rent horrors and monstrosities that used to prey upon my classmates."

"I think it's sweet that he feels this worked up about having sex with his iinazuke," Megumi smiled, "It's so...old fashioned and quaintly human."

"Right," Toltir nodded in agreement, "The fact that all of reality might collapse if this doesn't come off right has nothing to do with your level of performance, so there's no real pressure on you two crazy kids to do your first tango together by the book."

"Yeah," Ranma said in a voice that betrayed his increasing nervousness, "No pressure...terrific..."

"So it's your first time with her," Beast Ranma smirked and gave his counterpart a playful swat between the shoulderblades, "Perk up, I'm sure you'll survive the experience, even if she bites like the Nabiki I used to know. You could always do worse for a one-nighter..."

"Oh?" Megumi asked with suspicion, "And how would you know about that?"

"Ah..." Beast Ranma pretended to sound worried, "Let's just say I refuse to answer that on the ground it would get me exterminated..."

"Uncle Ranma...uh, sir?" Tinkerbell asked hesitantly from where she hovered overhead, "If this does work according to their plans then everything will be all right, won't it? The others won't be hurt if they go through with this, will they?"

"No problem, kid," Ranma replied, "Everything'll be okay, I won't let anything bad happen to anybody. Besides, this is heroic stuff, we do this kinda thing for a living..."

"Really?" Megumi asked skeptically.

"You're so full of it, Bro," Beast Ranma smirked, "But for what it's worth, I wish you well, and not just 'cause our kid's welfare's as much at stake as anybody else decorating that giant pinwheel."

"Just remember," Ryoga smirked as he leaned forward, "No pressure, now get out there and screw Nabiki."

"I'm going, I'm going, no need to shove!" Ranma said defensively before turning and taking a deep breath as he murmured to himself, "Right...no pressure...just go out there and do it..."

But as he approached the waiting Nabiki his bravado nearly failed him completely, for here was a woman whom he had known for over twenty years, who had baited and teased him from the day they had first met and gave every impression of being a cold and selfish fish, but who had shown him many other faces over the years and proved in time to be a valuable ally and a friend...and so much more besides, in spite of the onus hanging over both of their heads of being engaged by the will of their two fathers.

As if the baggage between them had not already been so great, and Ranma's refusal to go along with the charade of a second engagement to his sister-in-law had in part been fueled by his sense of unworth following the tragedy of his first marriage. It took years before Nabiki had managed to convince him of her sincere interest in starting over anew and becoming friends, after a fashion. It took even longer than that before he started to take note of the many special things about her that he had always been aware of beneath the surface of his awareness.

And now he looked upon her naked body and knew for a fact that he loved her, and not just because she was beautiful in his eyes, even moreso now than when they met during their teen years. It was not the same kind of love as he had once enjoyed all-too-briefly with Akane, nor even the unconscious fond admiration that he had felt towards Shampoo, and the even deeper affection that he had held for Ukyo, who had freely given her all and been supportive of him through the darkest year of her life. Nabiki represented different things than the other women of his life, different aspects of femininity no less valued by him, and more than worthy of his deep respect and admiration.

Looking at her body also made him appreciate something that he had almost taken for granted during his teenaged years when his own female half had given him a faintly jaded perception of female sexuality and distorted his appreciation of what it meant to be born female. Nabiki had long represented an enigma to him, being a cute girl who knew she was cute (unlike Akane, who seemed perpetually to doubt her own sexuality in spite of having a legion of admirers, and whose insecurity had in large part caused her to act so violent) and who knew how to use her charms in order to curry favors. It used to puzzle Ranma to no end that someone with as much basic smarts as her could not have wrangled herself a boyfriend, even given her fierce reputation as a money-shark, just as it later had confused him when she had made it abundantly clear that she was interested in him as more than just a person.

She had known that she had wanted him a long time before he had been aware of it, while he had been quietly admiring her from afar and wishing she were not such a cold fish as he might have been willing to explore a relationship with her instead of her mercurial younger sister. Looking at her now, he had no difficulty coming to the conclusion that his father and her father had most definitely chosen the wrong Tendo sister to be engaged to him. Kawaii as Akane might sometimes be, she lacked the sophisticated charm of Nabiki, who almost never needed to resort to violence to achieve her desires and always seemed to be first to discover a low-cost way of solving any problem.

The eyes, he fiercely chided himself, look her in the eyes and try to remember that this is Nabiki...but for all his mental admonishment he could not help by give her body a thorough study, drawn by the view of her long, supple legs to her girlishly perfect figure and nicely-sized breasts that he had long ached to caress and explore. She had a smooth and delicate appeal to her that belied the fact that she was in excellent physical condition and by no means the same Nabiki who used to disdain physical activity, other than stretching and limbering exercises. This was a Nabiki who could kick ass far better than Akane at the height of her abilities, who had studied the Lore of the Amazons and was now quite capable of looking after herself (not that this knowledge kept Ranma from wanting to protect her as he still vastly outclassed her as a fighter). She was not to be taken lightly, definitely not to be underestimated and most certainly his equal in all things but the martial arts. He felt himself yielding to the growing desire to always be with her, and as he thought of this he began to experience one MOTHER of a hard-on!

Nabiki, for her part, was hardly a passive observer of Ranma's mental inventory of her choicest bits on display for him to sample. In all truth, she was doing a good deal of "checking out" herself as most of Ranma was exposed to her full view, even the enormously swelling dick that he was waving in her direction, a flag-pole that was rapidly coming to full attention!

In spite of her bravado and nonchalant behavior around Ranma, the sight of him approaching her with such a lethal weapon was truly intimidating, and if not for the ropes binding her down to the makeshift altar she might have chickened out at the last second. Her Iinazuke was every inch a man in her eyes, and his manhood thus more than manly!

Perhaps Ranma saw her slight betrayal of nervousness, because he paused near to where she lay and said, "You sure about this, Nabiki? Because if you're really rather not go through with it..."

"Chickening out, Ranma-kun?" Nabiki responded with a hint of challenge, "I knew you'd find some reason not to do it. Admit it, I'm too much woman for you...always have been."

"Huh?" Ranma replied, then he saw the familiar gleam of mischief in her eyes and knew instinctively what she was doing, which brought a smile to his lips as he replied, "Is that a challenge I hear, Nabiki? You know what happens anytime I get a challenge."

Nabiki flexed her limbs and made a pretense of struggling against her restraints, then smiled and said, "So this is what it takes to get you to pay attention to a girl. Never thought you were into this scene...if I had, I would have tried this long ago."

"I don't need to tie you up to have my way with you, Nabiki," Ranma assured her, "I'd like a little more challenge being with a girl..."

"You never back down from anything, Saotome," Nabiki said confidently, "And this is sure no place to start."

"Good point," Ranma replied as he started to lean over her, momentarily overcome by her beauty as he reached out to brace himself over the altar, "It's just...I always figured that our first time...you know..."

"I know," Nabiki replied in a voice that was considerably softened, "But when have we ever done things like regular people?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." he shrugged, positioning himself over her with hands placed to either side of her head as he held himself erect (in more than one sense of the word) over her prone body, locking eyes with her as she gazed up at him with infinite longing.

"Time to begin," said Veil from her position on the wheel, and then she shifted the controls from her station and set the device on full automation.

Once more there was the movement of hydraulic arms, and then sixteen projective members rose up to cover the space between a matching set of vulnerable thighs, and sixteen simultaneous gasps as smooth, rods slid up to rub against the softness they encountered, not immediately penetrating but rather vibrating slightly to stimulate the necessary lubrication.

"Oh Kami...here we go again!" gasped Rinse.

"Ooh!" Ryeka blinked her eyes, "It feels kinda cold..."

"They should warm up soon enough," Tenko replied, "But yes...it is a very odd sensation..."

"You're telling me?" Silver grunted as she felt her loins slowly yield to the inexorable rise of the artificial members.

"Oh...oh my!" Lylac's eyes got very wide as she felt the slow penetration of her own member working its way up into her quivering vulva.

"Go with the flow, Lylac-chan," Ekko urged, smiling as she yielded to her own penetration, "I designed this to be a pleasant ride, not painful."

"You can say that again!" Kinko exclaimed, her face taking on a number of interesting expressions, "Oh wow! This is really something!"

"It sure is," Kama Sutra agreed, "My compliments on an excellent design."

"We have gotta get one of these for the House!" her sister, Tsuyori, called out with genuine enthusiasm.

Ranko, who had been craning her neck to try and watch what was happening down below with her aunt and (sort-of) father came back to an awareness of her own peculiar position at the sound of her friends slowly grunting and moaning in punctuated unison as the devices penetrating their loins began to slowly move up and down, gently humping them in slow, even waves that gradually grew in pace and tempo. She turned to see the nervous Akira, who had also been witnessing all of this with a dubious expression, and then licked her lips and in a nervous voice said, "Guess we'd better get with it, too. Look...Akira-san...I know this isn't exactly what either of us wants, but..."

"I know," Akira said gruffly, but then turned a gentle smile towards her and said, "We gotta do our part for the sake of all living things. I just hope you won't feel slighted...I've never...taken advantage of someone who was tied down before..."

"Oh, that's okay," Ranko lied to cover her own nervousness, "I'm not into this scene either...but, uh...well...I've also never...y'know...with guys, that is..."

"Oh..." Akira blinked, "Oh?"

"AKIRA!" Silver barked out from her position near at hand, "Would you just (GASP) get to it and (AHHH) screw her already! I don't wanna (GROAN) hang around like this (OOOH) all day!"

"Ah..." Akira turned to regard his unacknowledged half-sister and suddenly his manhood stiffened to erect life, much impressing Ranko, who stared at it with an amazed expression.

"Oho!" Watazashi mused between her own gasps and gruntings, "It seems (Oh MY) that our dear (OOOH) Akira-san (OH YESSS) has an eye (AIIEEE) on more than just sweet Ranko-chan..."

"You think?" Yuan-Yen called from somewhere just below her.

Ranko tilted her head back and saw Watazashi's quivering form vibrating to the piston-like motion of her own humping only a few meters away, and the sight alone proved enormously exciting. Without meaning to she felt her body react to this sight with a warming flush of arousal.

Meanwhile someone else was watching Watazashi get humped, hovering near without approaching nearly like a moth drawn to a candle, and squirming her own naked body as she ached with a need to get even closer. Tinkerbell felt a wretched, miserable sense from not being able to share this experience with the others, but mostly with the dark haired gymnast, and she hugged herself in helpless anxiety as she watched the machine proceed with its business with relentless energy with all the girls now experiencing a wholly unexpected wave of mutual pleasures.

"This isn't very...dignified for a Princess..." Atari managed to gasp.

"Who cares?" Cheetah asked with a huge grin, "Ain't it a rush?"

"It certainly (OMIGAWD) is that!" Tachi groaned with profuse enthusiasm.

"You okay (EEEYAAH) down there, Tachi?" Rinse called out in evident concern.

"Y-Yes..." Tachi managed to say, unable to keep her mind from filling with the mental image of Rinse experiencing the exact same sensations as she was, and then the image shifted to thoughts of her cousin replacing the nipple devices helping to stimulate her sensually, twining their bodies together while she rode the gentle waves of pleasure through some double-ended appendage, and this thought alone brought her to new and heightened states of arousal.

"Oh-Oh my!" Veil was gasping aloud, "I didn't...expect...it would be...quite like this...!"

"Neither did I!" Lamyra gasped, "And I LOVE IT!"

"Well, I'm certainly relieved to hear that," Megumi commented from just off to one side, hovering near to her helpless daughter, "I was half afraid you'd hold this one against me. Is it fun?"

"Oh YEAH!" Lamyra grinned as she saw her levitating mother, "You gotta try this, Momma, it's a gas!"

"Some other time," remarked her father, who also hovered near to Megumi, turning back to look at his counterpart before saying, "I just hope my double's up to doing his part. The way he's hesitating right now...it kinda makes me worry."

"Remember what you were like before we were married?" Megumi gently reminded him with a fond expression.

"Oh yeah," Beast Ranma averred, "Why do you think I'm so worried?"

Ranma continued to hover over Nabiki for a time as he savored the look in her eyes, the open invitation of her smile, the slight nervousness that matched his own hesitancy about finally consummating the moment between them, until at last he felt his confidence swell within him as he silently accepted the fact that the moment they both had longed for was finally upon them. With that realization he eased himself down and aimed with his loins-already hardened to the consistency of stone-for the gate of her loins beckoning to receive him. He mounted her with one smooth motion, causing a slight gasp of surprise from Nabiki, who had not expected him to enter her so quickly, yet found the experience of being so impaled far from unpleasant. She looked up at him with obvious wonder and saw the twinkle in his eyes as he smiled, and then he lowered himself fully atop her and covered her body with his own, bringing his face down to meet her expectant mouth in a kiss that was far sweeter than the mounting.

"I win the bet," Ranma cooed as he began to move his hips to grind his loins inside her, causing her to respond in kind as the sensation of his full cock swelling within her was matched by its unerring ability to find and mash against her sensitive nerve endings.

"So do I," she murmured back, wanting to hug and caress him but having to settle for allowing him to do all the work...at least for the moment...

Akira had elected not to jump in for the quick pin but rather opted to begin with oral sex, using tongue and hands to stimulate Ranko's already aroused body with as much skill and daring as he had earlier displayed with Tsuyori. Ranko made the appropriate gasping and groaning noises of approval and urged him on with as much compliance as she could manage from her prone position. All around them girls were swaying with the beat of simultaneous piston motions while their bodies swayed and their breasts bobbed in unison with gasps and groans sounding much the same, as though they were a chorus singing one note in tune to the beat of the carousel's motions.

"Owgawd!" Rinse managed to get out, momentarily breaking stride with the others, "I'm cumming!"

"I'm with you there!" Silver threw back her head and struggled with her harness, her body aroused from more than her own methodical cock-ride as she kept casting furtive looks towards Akira and Ranko, silently promising herself that the redhead would get a taste of her own cock when this ride was over!

"Oh...Megumi-sama!" Watazashi threw back her head as her body clenched and abruptly shuddered."

"Wow!" Tsuyori gasped just a few seconds after experiencing her own delightful climax, "Simultaneous orgasms? This machine really is a wonder!"

"This is nothing," Ekko called out, her handsome body as flushed with sweat as any of the others, "Advance to level two, Veil-san."

"R-Right," Veil replied, operating her controls without missing a beat in spite of her own divinely gifted climax.

"Waitasecond..." Lylac grunted, "Level TWO?"

The piston-motion of the dildo-rods slowed down and came to a gradual halt, still vibrating as they remained buried deep inside of the women while the machine did some internal reconfiguration, and then each one of the girls began to feel a stiff pressure arise at their back gates.

"Y'gotta be kidding me!" Ryeka exclaimed, "Sis?"

"All part of the fun," grunted Tenko with a smile as she felt the smooth head of the rod sliding up into her rectum, "Hang on, this is where things really start to get intense!"

The machine began its humping motions again, only now it was from two angles as each of the girls experienced a double-penetration that only intensified the pleasure of the first, causing numerous sounds of approval that cancelled out the odd word of protest here and there, and sure enough the machine began ratcheting up the fun substantially as the rhythm increased and the pulse of mutual humping grew more energetic.

Tinkerbell's eyes got very round as she watched this happen, feeling both relieved and humbled that she had escaped the fate of having to ride such a diabolical device with all of the others. She still felt guilty about not being able to share this with Watazashi, but she knew her own pain-threshold would have cancelled out the sensations of enjoyment being experienced by these others. Instead she watched helplessly while absently fingering her own body and focusing on the girl who so closely resembled her best friend from her home dimension, all the while wondering what her Watazashi was doing at the moment, and if she missed her Tink half as much as she was missed by a certain honey-  
blond Pixie?

"Well," remarked Toltir from where he stood to one side enjoying the show in undisguised earnestness, "Looks like things are going well...even Saotome seems to be getting into the spirit of the thing."

"Oh my," remarked Ryoga, who watched his best friend now furiously pound away at their naked dispatcher.

Nabiki had to concede that Ranma had definitely gotten in with the program and was showing as much enthusiasm as even she could have wished for under the circumstances. Ranma was hammering at her loins like a machine while alternately pausing to rube his face in her breasts or suckle at one nipple as she seemed to relish her state of utter and complete submission. His masculinity was definitely not in contention as he strode to dominate her utterly and completely, Nabiki having no trouble this time surrendering to his desire to utterly possess her. It had been too long in coming (no pun intended) and she was not about to let him go now that he was finally inside her! She wanted to make this moment last for an eternity, and no matter what the consequences, she would always be thankful for the chance to finally claim him for her lover!

Akira felt confident that he had finally worked Ranko up into a state where she would be ready to receive him...and having come this far with the perky little redhead, he was certainly not about to turn away from her at this stage of their relationship. It was odd in that he barely knew her at all, but felt strongly connected, as if there were some part of her that he knew and responded to on a subconscious level. It took a moment for him to discover what it was, and then he beamed with realization and said, "You know...you're just like her in a lot of ways..."

"Who?" Ranko wondered, only to gasp as Akira eased his way into her velvet harbor, his manhood pressing slowly into her pearly gate and working its way around until he was in deep and probing for her moistness, like an Oil Man working a rig and drilling for a deep gusher. As he found his way in, that was when a connection was forged and electrical flashes began appearing all over.

"What?" Tinkerbell floated back to a safe distance as she saw the random discharges begin rising up all over the carousel.

"Whoah!" exclaimed Ryoga, sensing the swirl of energies pooling all around the device, "What's it doing?"

"It's building up power and collecting it overhead," Toltir explained, "The girls are generating massive quantities of Bio-electrical energy, and the harder they get humped the stronger and more intense is the flow of current circulating all about them."

"It's definitely getting intense up there," Beast Ranma shielded his eyes, seeing a swirl of clouds kick up lightning and thunder, as though a cyclone were forming in the air far above them.

"Is that so surprising?" Megumi asked, not the least bit alarmed as she watched their daughter and the others going at it, "Sex is the most primordial of all the energies of creation, the force of creation and destruction personified in the living Yin and Yang of mutual consummation. My people have known the power of sex since time immemorial...a force so great that the Gods are in awe of it..."

"So are Demons," Beast Ranma noted, "But they've got rotten bedside manners, so they don't count. Besides, they have a nasty tendency of killing their partners before they can achieve their true levels of heightened awareness."

"That's Demons for you," Toltir shrugged, "All the time in the world to practice their craft but no patience whatsoever..."

For each of the girls involved in the elaborate power-build up the experience was far from academic as they were only aware of the slow and methodical double-  
penetration they were receiving, a reality that held prominence in their self-  
awareness of the moment as even the most powerful and astute of those involved was discovering new levels to their physically incarnate being that was transcending old definitions and shaking some of them to their very core while the electrical tension at play across their skin served to heighten their awareness that the machine was steadily driving them individually beyond the boundaries of the pre-supposed limits.

"Ohgawd!" Lylac exclaimed, unable to voice a more coherent expression that could summarize the sensations that she was internally undergoing.

"Hang on...Lylac-chan!" Ekko urged at her side, more coherent in her response those her own face was taking on several odd expressions that redefined her own concept of physical arousal, "Oh my! I seem...to have underestimated...the corresponding...stimulus-response system..."

"Would you just shut up and go with it for once?" Ryeka snapped, not wanting to be distracted from her own intensive humping.

Veil's facial expression conveyed the extent of her own intense arousal but she sought to hang on while maintaining control over the localized console that she had installed near to her own harness. She was absently adjusting the vibratory levels of the device while monitoring the performance levels of the various components and feeding in new data to help regulate the energy flow even as she felt the power pool and gather above them as all concerned parties gave their all for the sake of the greater good.

Meanwhile Akira was giving his full and undivided attention towards Ranko, who had somehow magically been transformed in his eyes from a stunning redhead to an equally stunning silver-haired beauty, the resemblance in expressions being so great that it was easy to mistake one for the other.

Ranko was experiencing her first time doing it with a guy, and being done to as a woman, which felt amazingly nice, though different from her prior experiences with Yuan-Yen and Watazashi. It gave new insight into her other experiences in the Miroku house, both as a girl and as a guy, and helped her to understand what it was like to be on both ends of a male organ, which opened up all sorts of interesting possibilities for the future...assuming she had one!

His hands cupping her breasts brought her back to full awareness that this handsome man was someone whom she had only quite recently met and would probably never see again when this was all over, a realization that made her oddly sad, though she accepted it as a fact since he was clearly destined for another. It was easy to see why her paradimensional half-sister would be so fixated on this guy, even knowing intuitively that he was her half-brother...which also made him Ranko's cousin, after a fashion, not that such issues of pedigree seemed to matter all that much under the circumstances.

(He really is a nice guy), she thought to herself with no small degree of wonder, feeling the sensitivity of his hands shape and mold her breasts without the fumbling awkwardness that some boys demonstrated with women (or so Ranko had heard from accounts, never having previously experienced such things on a personal level). The feeling of his manhood sliding in and out of her loins was an especially delightful sensation, though she would probably have enjoyed it more had she been free to move about and use her arms and legs as they were intended.

She was unable to do anything but to yield to him in her position, but she very much enjoyed the way he took his time and didn't rush with her, having used oral sex to insure that she was primed and ready before mounting her (as had his "father" had done with Aunt Nabiki). It was a passive acceptance of the reality of her position, but for once she did not mind being at a disadvantage. Though usually a much more aggressively assertive person, for the sake of Akira she would yield the top slot, confident that he seemed to know what he was doing, and marveling at the way his motions in and out of her were causing her body to flush hot and cold like alternating current.

Down below and to one side, Ranma was giving full vent to his lust as he gave Nabiki the royal treatment that he had long desired to do but suppressed for various reasons, not the least of which was his usual shyness around women. Nabiki was giving back as best she could from her prone state, arching her body in rhythm to his thrusts while her mind perceived the swelling of raw energy force-lines converging gradually on their position. When Ranma paused in his thrusts to take the time to give her an oral lavishing with tongue and lips, she savored the moment, but wanted desperately for him to continue his meat-pounding exercises as her loins felt so empty without him, and her body so incomplete without that sense of mutual connection. Fortunately for her, Ranma never kept her waiting for very long before renewing his jack-hammer pile-driver thrusts, causing Nabiki's whole body to arch and curl around the swelling that was within her, delighting in the divine release of receiving his manhood with grateful thanks silently expressed to the Kami.

The sky crackled with thunder and the clouds had jagged edges as the forces coalesced and swirled above them, forming a huge vortex that covered miles of the sky and blotted out the stars while somehow filling the sky with so much raw energy that it began to resemble daylight. Ranma shielded his eyes as he saw the electrical discharges rising up the lengths of naked, sweaty bodies, who suddenly cried out together as they all experienced another simultaneous orgasm.

"What gives?" Tink asked as she shielded her own more sensitive eyes, "It's like they're on fire or something!"

"Not to worry," said Megumi, who only mildly flinched when the first bolt of lightning struck the carousel, causing no damage but illuminating the pit with a thousand megawatts of pure brightness, "They can handle the stress! Women have an almost unlimited capacity for enjoyment in sex...it's one reason why we're so highly sought after by demons and beast-folk alike..."

"Not like us guys, who tend to burn out after only a few minutes, huh?" her husband smiled as the light momentarily died down to more pleasing levels, "Or so you like to keep reminding me."

"That's why I married you," Megumi leered back, "I get both girl and guy in the same package!"

"Uh..." Tinkerbell felt uncomfortable being near to those two as they all levitated at a moderate safe distance from the device and its current occupants, but suddenly she shifted her attention back to the carousel itself and frowned. Her eyes became unusually focused, and after a moment of hesitation she said, "Uh...guys? I think we have a problem..."

"Eh?" both Megumi and Beast Ranma said at one and the same time, trying to shift their own vision in the direction which she was peering.

Cheetah was giving those around her a good idea of just how much of a cat she was by crying out in beast-like yowls that were definitely approving of the stimulation that she was receiving. Kinko's wings batted against the restraints that had been used to hold them down, threatening to burst loose as the Angel-  
like girl yielded happily to her own ravishment. Princess Atari seemed hardly to notice the random electrical discharges that she was kicking out as her own body all but melded with the harness and caused spontaneous cascade-like discharges that were easily grounded out before they could cause anyone real discomfort, though Ryeka beside her felt the lash of many tingling sparks against her own sweat-slicked body. Kama Sutra was only slightly more enthusiastic in the enjoyment of her ride than her half-sister, Tsuyori, while Lamyra's eyes were glowing bright red and she was displaying a set of fangs that very much impressed the grounded Ryoga.

"Oboy," Ryoga flinched as yet another electrical discharge briefly lit up the night sky before fading to a rainbow hue of multi-dimensional colors, "I sure hope this works...those girls are really getting it now."

"Not to worry," Toltir reassured him, "I got everything covered. Sure is a nice floor show, you gotta admit."

Ryoga spared a glance towards the Elder God and said, "You sure you and Nabiki aren't related?"

"No," Toltir replied before smiling, "But on several timelines I've dated her older sister."

Tinkerbell pointed with a hand as she partially shielded her vision, "It's right there...I can sense it! It's like a tiny crack or something...a flaw in the base of the device, and I think it's growing."

"I still can't see it," Ranma said as he kept his own eyes shielded.

"Neither can I," Megumi turned to glance at Tinkerbell, "But then I'm not a Sentinel either. If she can detect something too minute for our perceptions, then it would be a very good idea to take her seriously in her warning."

"Okay," Ranma said, "But what are we gonna do about it?"

Megumi nodded towards Veil, "I think the Godling child of the Kami should handle it. She seems to be maintaining a good deal more self-control than the others."

"Right," Ranma paused before adding, "How?"

"Men," Megumi rolled her eyes, then she closed her own and placed her forefingers to her temples, opening her thoughts and reaching out towards the child of Goddess and Mortal as her normally red eyes shifted to a bright golden color.

Veil became aware of the sending as a bright flash of light, similar to an SOS being flashed through a cloud bank. She eased a portion of her consciousness to the forefront and opened a channel to the Beast Princess as a mental image of a crack was flashed between them within the space of a mere instant. Veil's eyes opened wider as she contemplated the significance of the warning, then immediately she began to run a self-diagnostic of the device using a peripheral processor not connected to the main system functions.

After a moment Tinkerbell began to relax a bit as she said, "It's disappearing...the metal almost seems to be healing itself. Whatever you did, it must have gotten the message to her."

"Stay alert," Ranma warned her, "If there's one flaw there might be others."

"Right," Tinkerbell acknowledged, her expression becoming serious as she concentrated on the device itself rather than on the tantalizing sight of the illuminated Watazashi, then suddenly she sensed another shift and pointed, "There! It's developing a fault line along that arm there!"

"Right," Megumi acknowledged before closing her eyes and once more protecting her thoughts to the half-goddess among them.

"Well, what do you know?" Toltir remarked with a lifting of cat-like brows, "Guess she wasn't such a fluke after all. That Pixie girl is actually proving quite useful."

"What do you mean?" Ryoga turned to glance at what had been a man one moment beside him, only to find the talking cat near his feet that had replaced him.

"She's a Sentinel," Toltir replied, "They're very rare and very powerful hunters and trackers gifted with superhuman levels of sensory perception. Among the gods only Heimdall or Lugh are more perceptive, which means she must be here to act as a regulatory control external to the device itself. Her brief time on the harness made her especially sensitive to any irregularities and defects that might creep up in the overall system, which right now is handling the combined energies of seven or eight Temporal Nexuses, who have a direct link to their own home dimensions. That's a lot of stress to put on any device, even one manufactured by divine hands, like this one."

"So she's pointing out faults and they're being corrected before they become a major problem?" Ryoga fathomed.

"Exactly," the cat gave him a sardonic look, "You're not as dumb as you look, kid, it almost sounds like you've done a lot of growing up from the days when you'd fly off the handle over trifles."

Ryoga was not sure if he should feel insulted by the Cat's insinuating tone, but rather than get angry he just shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I've had to...I've had Ranma for a partner. At least one of us has to behave like an adult when we're on assignments."

Tinkerbell was now taking her role seriously as she floated around the device, keeping just far enough away from it not to be caught by the random energy discharges that were now regularly firing in all directions, and pausing long enough to point at some feature, which Megumi quickly relayed to Veil so that the problem could be corrected before it became a serious problem.

Seeing as he was not of any immediate use to this operation, Beast Ranma glanced down and watched as his counterpart arched his own back inside of Nabiki, crying out as that Ranma released a payload deep into her body that must have been like firing off a rocket, because Nabiki cried out and arched her own back as she received him, her whole body flashing a brilliant white gold color for a few instants before the power erupted all around them, and-near simultaneously-  
Ranko gave a similar cry while Akira exploded his own seed within her.

Silver heard their cries but was almost beyond caring, experiencing her own massive orgasm, which crashed down on her like a tidal wave, causing a similar wave to cascade all through the system. All the girls cried out at once, and then the air above the carousel exploded like a supernova with the brilliance of comets and galaxies being born, and all at once the Universe folded in on itself and time and space were momentarily inverted.

Tinkerbell sensed the shift before it happened, only her own body began to seize up and writhe as a sympathetic resonance from the device engulfed her and she felt her senses explode with pleasurable delights unknown to her until that moment, causing her to shudder and gasp at the same time as Watazashi.

And as they cried out in blissful release, another set of voices was heard, voices whose cries had heralded a very different kind of release, a climax that had proved deadly as the moment of their deaths arrived with the life being sucked dry from their bodies. Twelve voices all joined in mutual astonishment and horror became twelve cries of rebirth and renewal, joined by four other equally astonished cries, and then gentle pants and gasps of incredulous release as the device continued to work its relentless energies, pleasuring twelve slender forms, who bobbed and weaved in the night air with the breath of life having been restored to their bodies.

"WHAT THE...?" Beast Ranma cried out in dismay.

"What happened?" Ryoga demanded, no less taken aback by this unexpected development.

"Oh my," Toltir remarked, "I certainly never saw this coming...or cumming..."

"Blessed Mother of all Beasts," Megumi gasped, pointing with a trembling finger, "Husband..."

"Yeah, I see it," Ranma replied, "Believing it's a different matter."

"Who are they?" Ryoga sheltered his eyes, finding to his amazement that the sixteen naked girls who had been mounted in the harness had been replaced by sixteen other girls who were very different than the ones who had been there a moment before. (He also noted in passing that Ranma and Nabiki were no longer doing it on the altar).

"Our friends," Ranma exclaimed as he hovered nearby, not bothering to hide his astonished expression as he stared at the very-much-alive face and form of the Vampire Slayer, Natsume...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Celestial Orgiastic Encounters: shadowmane

What is going on here, and who are those girls who are now decorating the carousel? And what about the gang we've been following for the last sixteen chapters? That and more next time when Ranma and the gang have a close encounter of a most unusual kind...be there!

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	19. Chapter 19

RanSquares17

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Based on the Works of Rumiko Takahashi and Others,  
including my fellow fanfic writers, Nicole Manders, Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers, who provided some of the characters and concepts that have appeared in this series, and to TH Tiger for his generous support and advice in the writing of this and many other projects)

HENTAI ALERT, CONTAINS NAKED WOMEN IN MANY COMPROMISING POSITIONS AND IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR SHALLOW IMAGINATION, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, AND UNAUTHORIZED TRESPASSERS WILL BE VIOLATED!

Nether Regions, Limbo

Roll Call:

Ranma Saotome -38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane.  
A Time Agent, Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Nabiki Tendo -38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Ranko Saotome -16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Dimensional Nexus Owner of the Pendant Akira Tendo-20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Watazashi Saotome-16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Dimensional Nexus Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Dimensional Nexus Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Dimensional Nexus Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox Dimensional Nexus Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Dimensional Nexus Cheetah Saotome-17, amber-furred daughter of Kasumi and Ranma From Continuum #729058146 Humanoid Cheetah Dimensional Nexus Lamyra Saotome-17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi From Continuum #17046289 Beast Princess Dimensional Nexus Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219

Toltir -Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Rinse gasped as she came to an awareness of herself that did not involve having objects hydraulically inserted into and pumped in and out of her nether regions, and she looked around at the formless blue-gray haze that comprised the sky above her, feeling a strangely familiar sense of unreality in the air, which prompted her to groan softly, "Oh hell...not again!"

She was still naked, of course, and covered with profuse sweat from her ordeal with the machine, but at least she was still alive (after a fashion) if feeling somewhat emptied, no doubt by the experience of being a living capacitor in some giant experiment that was right out of an Ecchi Shouja Manga. Her loins ached somewhat from the pounding she had taken, but other than that (and a slight case of the cramps) she felt reasonably well off. In point of fact (if she were to be totally honest about it) she felt more than a little good, having gotten off about seven or eight times from riding that infernal contraption (and who had time to count?), but still in all she was strongly inclined to consult with Tachi on the possibilities of a mutual lawsuit for first-class sexual harassment.

Just whom exactly they were supposed to sue would be a slight problem, but they could sort it out later. Right there and now the thought of Tachi brought her back to full awareness of her surroundings, wondering if the others had made it, too, or if she were the only one to get stuck in Limbo.

A mere glance to the side showed her this was definitely not the case. Tachi was beside her, curled up in a fetal position and shivering slightly, which concerned Rinse greatly, for all that she was relieved to see that her cousin had also made it.

"Tachi?" she asked, reaching over to gently shake the other girl on the shoulder, which brought immediate awareness from the brown haired Kuno girl, "Are you all right?"

Her cousin turned to look at Rinse with the most amazing expression of delight and relief, and then before Rinse had time to react, Tachi reached out for her and drew her into her arms, bringing their mouths together in a passionate kiss that took the purple haired girl's breath away in more than one sense of the expression.

"Darling?" Atari started to rouse from where she lay, just out of sight of the pair with a hillock feature of the landscape obstructing her vision. She turned on her side and encountered another warm, naked body, which she at once took to be her beloved Rinse, which was why she snuggled closer to the inviting presence of the other girl, surprised and delighted that her companion returned her snuggle, which was when their eyes opened and she met the tawny eyes of Ryeka. There was a moment of mutual recognition, then both girls sat up and voiced a mutually dismayed exclamation.

"Would you guys hold it down over there?" Yuan-Yen complained as she happily snuggled up with Watazashi, "Some of us are trying to sleep..."

"If sleep is all that you have in mind, then some of us will be very disappointed," Watazashi cooed with a similarly lustful expression.

Tinkerbell opened her eyes as she heard this, then sat upright and stared at the couple beside her, a play of conflicting emotions welling up inside her before she managed to suppress them, reminding herself (for the twentieth time) that this was not her Watazashi, though the envy she felt for the brown haired girl's presence made it difficult to concentrate even on their bizarre surroundings.

Cheetah yawned and stretched as she sat up and looked around, sniffed the air a few moments then said, "Well, this is a cheery place. You guys come here often?"

"Not exactly," Kinko replied as she combed long blonde hair out of her eyes, "What happened? How did we get back here all of a sudden?"

"A very good question," replied Veil as she also flexed her arms then felt her pelvis to determine that there was no lingering soreness, "I would have to speculate that some unexpected feature of the device appears to have transported us beyond the boundaries of the mortal worlds to one of the aspects of Limbo, an in-between realm that has no relativistic constant of time and space..."

"In other words we're fucked again," Lylac said somewhat crudely, only to blink her eyes as she felt slender arms move around her body to cup her breasts while a soft weight pressed against her shoulder blades, like twin balloons of warm, firm softness. A head was laid upon her shoulders as she heard Lamyra sigh, "A realm where time has no meaning...how exquisitely delightful! We could have all the time we need for some mutual exploration here..."

"Ahem," Ekko remarked with a somewhat bemused (if vexed) expression, "Do you mind?"

"Not if you don't," Lamyra smiled back with a hint of warning in her tone, "And I don't see an ownership label anywhere on her body, but I'd be willing to share her if you will."

"Huh?" Lylac began to feel some sympathy for her half-sister, Rinse, though it surprised her to no end to see the look of annoyance that flashed through Ekko's expression before resuming her normal aloofness.

"Limbo again, eh?" Kama Sutra remarked as she glanced around in slow appraisal, "Well, could have been worse. We might have wound up in the Shikima realm..."

"Now that would have been some adventure," Tsuyori agreed with a nod of her head, "Been a while since the last time we went back there..."

"I wonder why we wound up here all of a sudden?" asked Ranko after Akira pried himself off of her and sat back with a slightly flustered expression, "I thought we were supposed to finish what we started back there..."

All at once she sensed the approach of another, just before Silver crashed into her and pinned Ranko down on the ground, placing a hand over each of her breasts as she forced her to face upward.

"You had fun screwing Akira?" Silver growled as she kneaded Ranko's bosoms with less gentility than she might otherwise had employed, "Got him off real good, didn't you? Guess that makes you think you're pretty special..."

"Silver?" Akira's tone belied his astonishment at her behavior.

"Let me go!" Ranko protested, even as she felt Silver grind her pelvis into her own reddish muff, and without a doubt (had Silver been in male form) it would have been something else that she pressed up against her vulva, "I didn't do anything to you...!"

"No?" Silver growled, taking each of Ranko's nipples between her fingers and pinching them in a way that was not quite painful but did something rather interesting that hardened them immediately, "Like that wasn't something I just did? You know what it's like to see you screwing him, huh? Do you?"

Ranko shuddered slightly and without consciously willing it spread her thighs a bit wider, parting her legs as Silver rubbed their crotches together and caused their clits to mash, which sent an electrical shock all through both of their bodies...

"That's enough!" the voice of Saotome Ranma called out, causing Silver to halt in mid pelvic-thrust as she looked up with an almost guilty expression. She saw the stern look the man who looked like her father gave her and reflexively wilted. (The fact that this Ranma was as naked as she was hardly detracted from the awkwardness she felt, though her eyes naturally went down to his crotch level, much to his obvious discomfort).

Beside him an equally naked Nabiki just paid her a very sardonic look and said, "If you want to get even with her, do it some other time when we're not all involved in a major crisis. I'm sure Ranko will be willing to meet you half way, especially if you choose a time and place that's to your mutual advantage."

Silver glanced down and saw the look Ranko was turning on her, then she rolled off the other girl and folded her arms over her chest, pouting a bit before growling, "She started it..."

"Like how?" Ranko wondered as she sat up, "You think I wanted to screw him? I mean-sure he's a great guy and all that-but it wasn't exactly my idea...no offense meant, Akira-san."

"None taken," Akira replied with a highly perplexed expression.

"Darling?" Atari hovered in the air, which naturally gave her the vantage point from which to discover what was presently occurring, to which the green haired alien princess exclaimed, "DARLING?"

"Huh?" asked Ryeka, who promptly joined her, then started, "WHAT THE...? That two-timing hussy...!"

Rinse was in no condition to acknowledge their presence, having her face buried deep between Tachi's thighs as her cousin did the same for her in an ardent "69" position that left them totally oblivious to their surroundings. From the sound of things they had only just gotten started, a fact that stunned the two levitating alien girls, who had never before even considered Tachi Kuno as a possible rival.

Of course with them surprise was usually followed by something a bit more violent, but as both she and Atari were about to pounce on the unsuspecting couple, Tenko floated into their path and said, "Now simmer down you two! This is no time or place to be flying off the handle!"

"Can't think of a better time for it!" Ryeka snarled.

"That goes double for me!" Atari seconded, one hand glowing brightly as electrical sparks surrounded it, only to have a random discharge leap out from her hand and strike a glancing blow against Silver.

In response to this, Silver stiffened and then began to recite in verse: "What's in a name? That which we call a Rose by any other name would still smell as sweetly..."

"Are you all right?" Ranko asked her.

Silver blinked and then her eyes regained their focus, and with a sheepish expression she glanced around and put one hand to the back of her pale head and replied, "Uh...yeah, sorry about that. Getting hit with electricity always does that...it's a Saotome tradition..."

"She played Romeo in a school production recently," Akira shrugged, "Our school director...is a bit eccentric."

"Oh," was all Ranko could think to say, then quietly dropped the issue.

"For shame on the both of you," Tenko chided in tones worthy of an older sister, "Have you learned nothing from the examples of our parents? Atari, you could have seriously hurt someone doing that, and Ryeka...you know Juraian traditions just as well as I do. Your beloved has every right to take a second lover on the side, if that's her preference, just as father did when he chose Lady Ayeka as well as our mutual Mother. By Tsunami...if not for that you wouldn't even be here!"

"That's right," Veil said in motherly tones far more gentle and yet insistent, "You're parents learned to set aside their differences and come together for the greater good of all. Surely there is room in your hearts to consider the possibilities of an open relationship, one that is mutually beneficial to all concerned parties?"

"Mutually...?" Ryeka began.

"Beneficial?" Atari finished, then the two of them exchanged puzzled looks before looking away with mutually confused expressions.

"I think it's very sweet myself," Kama Sutra remarked, "They do make a very nice couple."

"A couple of what, we won't speculate," Tsuyori added with a wry grin as she, too, enjoyed watching the two girls tongue-thrash one another.

"There you people are!" a voice called out and all heads turned to see the Cat-  
form of Toltir suddenly manifest from seeming no where, "Wondered where you'd gotten off to."

"From the looks of things I'd say it's one of the various Limbo-realms that exist outside the normal timestream," Nabiki surmised, "Although why we are here is the subject yet to be determined."

"Yeah, well, that's kinda like a puzzle for me too," Toltir assumed a sardonic expression (of course for a Cat such things are easy since they always look sardonic), "Don't suppose any of you geniuses might have a clue to this?"

"Sorry," Tenko shrugged, "Everything we've been doing today is sort of new to me, although a Limbo realm is usually employed like a pocket dimension by Grandmother when she wants to store things, like her laboratory equipment."

"I'm still working on a tentative hypothesis that follows similar themes," Ekko added with a stroke of her chin, "But I'm convinced that there is a reason...Yggdrasil must not be done yet with the program, but for some reason it shuttled us off before the machine had fully completed its cycle."

"Oh my," Veil said with a somewhat astonished expression, "That means the device is still in operation, but without living components to control it, the vortex it created might spiral out of control..."

"Ah, not exactly," Toltir replied somewhat awkwardly (for him anyway), "Seems you girls were replaced by some of the local talent that bought it during the troubles. Those girls who died twenty years ago are back and taking up right where they left off, hardly missing a stroke in passing..."

Continuum #17046289

Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage to Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Ranma Saotome-38, dark haired Beast-Prince of a parallel dimensional realm, Changeling husband of Megumi Megumi Saotome-Age indeterminate, but centuries old, green haired Beast Princess and sometime protector of humanity.  
Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

THE WHEEL OF ECCHI

Central Circle

Nabiki Tendo-19, brown haired, reborn middle Tendo sister, currently occupying the place previously held by Ranko Saotome.  
Tatewaki Kuno-19, dark haired heir to the Kuno fortune who presently occupies the space formerly held by Akira Tendo

Inner Circle

Natsume Tendo -19, dark haired cousin to Nabiki and Chosen Slayer of the Undead, Reborn in space formerly occupied by Watazashi Usage Tsukino -18, blonde haired leader of the Senshi,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by Tsuyori Belldandy Morisato -Mist brown-haired Goddess of the Present, age Indeterminate Reborn in space formerly occupied by Rinse Tsunami -Pale blue haired embodiment of the Juraian world tree,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by Silver Aiko Managi -18, redheaded daughter of Kryptonian and Olympian heritage Reborn in space formerly occupied by No One

Outer Circle

Kasumi Tendo-21, brown haired older sister to Nabiki,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by Veil/Tinkerbell Akane Tendo-18, black haired younger sister to Nabiki,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by Yuan-Yen Kodachi Kuno-18, black haired younger sister to Tatewaki Reborn in space formerly occupied by Tachi Kurumi Tendo-18, brown haired younger sister to Natsume,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by Kinko Ukyo Kuonji-18, dark brown haired Okonomiyaki Chef,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by Kama Sutra Shampoo -18, purple-haired Amazon warrior Reborn in space formerly occupied by Lylac Keiko Arigami-19, redheaded Kickboxing champion,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by Cheetah Makoto Kino-18, brown haired Senshi warrior, Sailor Jupiter Reborn in space formerly occupied by Lamyra Rei Hino-18, black haired Shinto priestess and Senshi Sailor Mars Reborn in space formerly occupied by Ekko Minako Ainu-18, blonde haired Senshi Sailor Venus Reborn in space formerly occupied by No One Ami Mizuno-18, dark haired Senshi Sailor Mercury Reborn in space formerly occupied by No One Lum Moroboshi-Green haired Princess of the Oni...age unknown Reborn in space formerly occupied by Atari Ayeka Masaki-Purple haired Princess of the Jurai...age unknown Reborn in space formerly occupied by Ryeka Ryoko Masaki-Green haired Space Pirate turned Juraian consort...age unknown Reborn in space formerly occupied by Tenko Beiko Daitokuji-Silver haired super-genius,  
Reborn in space formerly occupied by No One

"Holy Mother of Frijoles," Toltir remarked to himself, "This one is definitely one for the records...!"

"What happened?" Ranma asked, "How did we suddenly get our friends back, and what gives with the others who were there up until a few seconds ago?"

"It seems that they were exchanged...or something," Megumi replied with a somewhat dubious expression.

"Uh..." Ryoga frowned, "Is it my imagination, or doesn't it look like there are a few more girls than we had before?"

"You're not imagining things," Toltir replied, "There's now five girls adorning the center and fifteen on the outer wheel, and all of them being humped like crazy."

"Those are the missing heroes and Senshi who died during the fighting," Ranma remarked with an amazed expression, "Sure look pretty healthy now! Of course I kinda wonder what must be going through their minds waking up to that kind of experience!"

Megumi frowned as she glanced at him, then playfully put a hand over her husband's eyes and said, "Don't look, you might go blind."

"Hardehar," he growled as he gently-but-firmly removed that hand from his face, "Keep it up and you'll be as bad as Ryoga."

"Yes?" Ryoga asked in response, somehow not able to take his eyes off of the singular sight of the naked girls and their bare legs bobbing to the thrusts of the machine.

"Uh...never mind," Ranma said lamely.

At the center atop the wheel a much-surprised Nabiki found herself staring up into the equally surprised face of Tatewaki Kuno, a boy she had lusted after for years in secret, but who had given his heart and soul of her cousin, Natsume. The fact that he had his manhood buried deep within her snatch was no less surprising than the discovery that Natsume herself was watching from close nearby. As much as her body was favorably responding to the pounding of his sex, she felt a stab of guilt as she saw Natsume's expression and realized that she was cuckolding her best friend in an all-too-blatant manner.

"What...transpires here?" Tatewaki blinked his eyes as he slowed his emphatic ravishing of her body, glancing around to perceive the machine that they were perched atop and saying, "Oh no...not again...!"

"Kuno-chan?" Nabiki asked, though she fully understood his reaction.

He looked down at her and his face became contrite, "Nabiki-san...a thousand pardons, I did not intend for this to happen, gentle maiden! This was not of my design...but perhaps it is the work of that foul wretch, Saotome!"

Nabiki felt like crying. She finally had the boy she had yearned for all along and he thought it was another stupid prank by Ranma. She might have said something rude to him at that point, but when he started to ease his stiff manhood out from her she felt an urge to protest and said, "It's all right, Kuno baby! I understand, and I forgive you!"

"How can you offer one such as I forgiveness?" Kuno glanced away in misery and self-contempt, "To take advantage of one so beautiful while my true love stares at me in accusation..."

Something suddenly occurred to Nabiki and she stared in amazement at Tatewaki, then said, "Kuno-chan...your face!"

"Eh?" he turned back to her with a puzzled expression.

Nabiki found his confusion very endearing, but at the same time she felt the urge to smack him (which of course was impossible as she was firmly held down to the altar), so she patiently explained, "You don't have fangs anymore...and I don't think that you're a vampire anymore!"

"W-What?" Tatewaki felt his face with his hands as a look of amazement overcame the shame that had previously consumed him with doubt and worry, though it left the obvious question that he quite naturally voice, "H-how...?"

"Uh oh," Toltir remarked, glancing down near the base, "Don't look now, but I think there's been a major oversight in the design of that last spell."

"What do you mean?" Megumi asked.

"Check it out," he nodded to the altar that had formerly been occupied by another Nabiki, "The grounding wire is just sitting there without a support. That means there's no way to bleed off the excess charge that's building."

"No way?" Ranma turned and smiled at Megumi, "Should we do the honors?"

"I don't see why not," she grinned, "And I thought you'd never ask..."

Moments later Ranma was wearing the same harness formerly adorned by his counterpart while Megumi lay stretched out on the altar and looking ready to receive him, while Ryoga stood to one side and shook his head, murmuring faintly, "I don't believe this..."

"What's not to believe?" Toltir asked, "Makes perfect sense to me. Yggdrasil must've designated those two are replacement components after the original pair...went wherever it is they've gone to. Hold the fort here for a bit, will you? I'm gonna go back to the office and check this thing out."

"Hold the fort?" Ryoga wondered, only to find that he was talking to himself, the cat-god having mysteriously vanished.

As Ranma prepared to mount his wife, he looked into her eyes and said, "Y'know...I'm not sure just why, but this seems...somehow familiar..."

"So?" Megumi smiled, "Are you complaining about it?"

"Not in the least," Ranma allowed his lust to fill his expression as he looked down fondly at her naked body, all ready primed and ready to receive him, so like a good husband he decided not to keep her waiting.

Back on the wheel, Natsume Tendo was staring down at the sight of Tatewaki Kuno mounting her cousin, Nabiki, so in spite of the strange predicament that she was in she felt a wave of intense desire and resentment fill her. After all, he was her boyfriend, not her cousin's!

A moment later she felt a wrenching sensation, as if reality had reverted once again, and suddenly she discovered that she was facing upwards with Tatewaki Kuno poised above her, while the space that she had occupied was suddenly adorned by a much-astonished Nabiki.

"Natsume-chan?" Tatewaki gasped.

"Kuno-sama?" she asked with an equally amazed reaction.

"Would you two just get on with it?" Nabiki said as she recovered her wits, "The rest of us don't have all day to hang around here!" and then she settled in and allowed herself to experience the unique sensation of a double-penetration.

"Get it on?" Tatewaki asked as he glanced at Nabiki, then Natsume, and felt his manhood stiffen like a rod of iron.

"I think she means you are supposed to mount me, Kuno-sama," Natsume replied with a much gentler voice than she might have employed under different circumstances, "Please resume what you were doing...I believe this time everything will work to our mutual satisfaction."

Kuno swallowed as he stared down at her naked beauty then replied, "Far be it from me to refuse the request of my lady-love..."

Ryoga was starting to feel like the odd man out watching everyone else get a sexual high, and he started to turn away in mild disgust, wondering what had happened to the Akari of this timeline, and did his counterpart perish seeking to defend her? There certainly had been an awful lot of death upon this world, and it was nice to see some life being restored, even if these weird circumstances had numbed him far beyond the point of any nosebleed...

Limbo Realm

"You're kidding," Ranko exclaimed, "You mean...no way!"

"In a way it makes perfect sense," Watazashi mused with her own thoughtful expression, "It might also explain the odd composition of our group, which varies in talent from the common to the outlandish."

"What do you mean?" Yuan-Yen asked her.

"I mean," Watazashi smiled as she draped an arm around her lover's waist, "That we have Gods, demons and aliens in our midst, so can you imagine the variety of persons who must have replaced us for this oh-so-interesting project?"

"Good point," Lylac nodded, "I wonder how they're getting along if they're going through the same sort of thing that we just went through?"

"I'm sure they'll manage," Lamyra replied, giving the purple haired Tendo girl a wry smirk, "After all, it wasn't all that unpleasant for you, now was it?"

"Er..." Lylac replied, suddenly finding herself the focus of both Ekko and the beast-girl's attention.

"So...what do we do in the meantime?" Tinkerbell asked as she glanced sidelong at Watazashi and her companion.

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Silver replied as she sidled up alongside Akira, placing a hand to his crotch and startling him at the brazen gesture, "Still got any life left in this thing, Akira-chan?"

"I think she has the right idea," Kama Sutra exchanged an amused look with Tsuyori.

"Looks like those two are already well ahead of the rest," Tsuyori remarked, glancing sidelong at Rinse and Tachi, who were oblivious to all of their surroundings.

"I guess it would make sense," Nabiki mused, giving Ranma a playful nudge, "Keeping the engine revved up, as it were."

"I thought we were supposed to be the mature adults setting an example for the others?" Ranma asked with a no-less amused expression.

"So let's set an example...over there," she nodded to a clear space of ground slightly off from the rest of the landscape, "Show these kids how it's really done."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Ranma replied, taking her hand and allowing her to lead him.

"Well," Atari mused, "If the adults have given their approval..."

"Then why shouldn't we have some fun?" Ryeka agreed, eyeing Tachi and Rinse.

"An excellent idea," Watazashi smiled, "Everyone pick their partner of preference and get down to it!"

"I have already have mine picked out," Tsuyori smiled as she leaned up against Ranko and said, "I believe you owe me a screwing."

"Hah?" Ranko replied with a blank expression.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Cheetah eyed Tenko and Veil, "So...what's your story? Either of you guys have a boyfriend?"

"Um...not exactly," Tenko replied, blushing slightly.

"Oh my," Veil remarked, wondering if she were implying the right sort of things in the expression of the cat girl.

"If the aim is to pass the time," Lamyra leaned even closer to Lylac, "Then I have no objections...do you?" she asked of Ekko, who smiled in silent agreement.

"Ah...help?" Lylac replied, discovering that she was about to become the middle wafer in an all-girl sandwich.

"Oh my..." Tinkerbell started to say when she saw the hand extended by Watazashi and found both she and Yuan-Yen smiling in her direction, and seeing nothing else was currently impending, she took that hand in tacit acceptance that the inevitable was sometimes the very thing that you most wanted doing.

Even if it wasn't with exactly the right person.

Toltir glanced around himself at all the bright and eager faces, then in a low murmur remarked, "And here I thought this was going to be a slow day."

"Hey!" Kinko cried out suddenly, glancing up at the metaphorical sky, "What gives? Something's happening over that way!"

"Oh my," murmured Ekko as she visually studied the swirling patterns, "Is it happening already?"

"Is what happening already?" Lylac asked nervously, unable to help shuddering at the note of surprise in her redheaded companion's voice, which seldom boded well for the cosmos in general.

"The reality inversion," Tenko replied, "I believe we are about to witness the re-manifestation of an inverted timeline."

"In plain Juraian Interlac please, Sis?" Ryeka pleaded.

"Just watch and see," Veil replied, "This ought to impress even you, Uncle."

"We'll see," Toltir replied, settling in to watch the fireworks begin to happen...

Continuum #17046289

The sound of rumble and thunder up above informed Ryoga that the machine was very much in operation, and that the energies it was gathering were even more intense than before, and he was starting to take notice of a rippling effect that was overtaking their surroundings. It definitely looked as if something were about to happen, and with him standing at ground zero, which was why he decided to go with his instincts and activated his Belt Locator to shield himself against the Cross-Temporal currents of energy that was sweeping over everything and causing old and worn equipment to fade in and out of existence, then appear again in a pristine condition.

All at once a wave of energy poured out from the machine as all twenty-one women (not counting Tatewaki or the Beast Ranma and his lady) climaxed simultaneously with one MOTHER of an orgasm, and so powerful was this energy that even Ryoga-  
momentarily distanced from the normal ebb and flow of dimensional currents-  
could feel it touch him, a testament to the amount of energy involved in such a discharge. The vortex swirled far overhead, and all at once became a showery explosion of sparks and pinwheels that filled the night like a thousand Chinese New Years going off all at once.

Ryoga winced as a part of him felt those energies merge and collide with their surroundings, and all at once things began changing, altering noticeably as reality itself inverted. All at once Ryoga found himself at the eye of a colossal hurricane of tidal forces, and even if his senses were not keyed to the elements that comprised the paratime currents he would have known that something incredible was happening to the Earth itself, and not just the Japanese Home Islands. With a start he realized that he was at the center of an enormous convergence, to which he could only exclaim the first words that came into his mind at this singular occurrence.

"Oh my...!" he said, and then reality inverted as a new Template overrode the existing order...

LIMBO

Time really had no meaning to this place, so whether it was minutes, hours or even years since their arrival was of no never-mind to the many writhing forms that littered the landscape as the naked Teens gazed up at the swirl of cloud and color that surrounded them, sensing the incredible energies that were in-  
play without fully comprehending the true magnitude of the Inversion that was in progress.

Even Toltir and the Time Cops were at a loss to fully grasp the extent of the energies that were in play as it seemed more like a computer-generated image of a galaxy being reborn, only vastly accelerated beyond the rate at which such things might normally take to transpire. In the relative blink of an eye the transition point occurred, and then a vast stellar explosion of energies caused a kaleidoscope of images and sensations to reach out to them, causing each to experience the phenomenon differently, in some cases prompting them to relive significant portions of their own personal histories in a way that seemed far longer than the instant or so in which these life-like memories actually occurred.

For Lylac it came in a moment of childhood when she first met her future best friend, a shy and introspective redhead who stood apart from other children of their generation. Being a somewhat shy and introspective sort herself she naturally found the attraction irresistible, and for two kids only five years of age yet physically and developmentally ahead of their peers it just seemed natural enough that they would hang out together and share experiences quite typical for two young girls with such unusual parents.

Ekko shared the same memory, only now Lylac could witness the event through her eyes and see how the mentally advanced and physically powerful young girl had found it difficult to relate to other children their own age, being so naturally strong and intelligent that other young girls tended to regard her as either a freak or a monster. Lylac had been nothing like the rest, always so cheerful and considerate, unselfish in her willingness to share and so utterly fearless in boldly volunteering to help whenever Ekko had need for an ally or accomplice. They had met because their parents were close friends visiting one another (and it would be some years before they found the other members of their close-knit circle, the demi-goddess named Veil and the alien Princess Tenko), and once they had met they had formed an instant bond that had only strengthened over the years.

Lylac had become very special to her during this time, a young warrior in training who understood and appreciated the finer aspects of the science behind the art of unarmed combat, so very different from the muscle-bound fools (Tantalus Taro came rather quickly to mind) who often sought to court her affections. Lylac was fairly unattached by romantic entanglements, for all that she was a heartbreaker, physical perfection in motion and graceful in a way that often inspired Ekko to calculate the various vector angles and dynamics in order to confirm in her own mind that her friend did indeed conform within the known laws of physics, which she often quite effortlessly violated. Moreover, Lylac appreciated art and music for their aesthetic qualities and could debate deep philosophical matters with clarity and wit, making her not only a fascinating conversationalist but also a genuinely fun companion with whom to hang around.

Lylac had known that they shared the distinction of being considered "too nerdy" even by their close relations, and neither one-strictly speaking-had a biological father to speak of, but beyond the superficial similarities in their lives it had never occurred to her to consider her close friend in quite the erotic tones with which she had been silently regarded by Ekko. All the adventures that they had shared together, the crazy and often situations in which they sometimes found themselves, all the times when Ekko's brilliance and superhuman strength had helped them escape from certain death (or worse) and it had never once occurred to her to wonder at the degree of her admiration for the stalwart genius. Ekko acted as if she knew no fear when in fact she had been very much intimidated in sharing the one uncertainty of her existence, the question of whether or not her secret affections might one day be returned.

Affections for Lylac, the only friend she had whom she knew would support her regardless of the circumstances. Ekko valued their friendship too much to want to risk it by seeking more from Lylac than she herself was prepared to give. Instead she had contented herself with little flirtatious hints and gestures, hoping one day that the otherwise perceptive Lylac might purchase a clue and arrive at the same conclusion as Ekko.

While this startling revelation was being contemplated, comparable experiences were being exchanged with other members of their time-lost party of paradimensional offspring, not to mention their elders. For Ranma it was the memory of a time when Nabiki had briefly been his iinazuke, one of the more colorful and less happy occasions of his youth, which had put him off to her for many years that were to follow. Nabiki herself now relived the memories from his perspective, seeing the rather callous and cruel way that she had manipulated and exploited him for fun and profit, alternating between the pretense of affection with displays of total disregard for his own personal feelings. He had come away from that ordeal firmly convinced that Nabiki held only loathing and contempt towards him, regarding him as just a dumb jock to be used and discarded for her personal convenience.

The thought caused him more pain than he would have expected, for a part of him had secretly admired the middle Tendo girl's uncanny knack for avoiding the sorts of problems that usually ensnared him. As hurt as he had been when Nabiki had offered to sell him(or eventually rent out his services) to the other fiancess, he had understood it on a tactical level as her way of deflecting the jealousy and anger that they might have otherwise vented towards her for coming between them and Ranma. Nabiki was not then a practicing martial artist, having given up on her training at a fairly early age, so she had to use her wits rather than her fists, a talent that gave her the edge over her violent-tempered younger sister, who only knew one way of dealing with her problems. It was a quality about her that Ranma had always found quietly attractive, like her ultra-cool veneer of suave sophistication.

Only now he perceived the event in a totally different mindset than he had employed as a lonely boy without any true companions. He saw himself through Nabiki's eyes and understood for the first time that she had always been very aware of him (on at least a subliminal level) and had felt an attraction from the moment of their first meeting. Years of denying her basic emotions had made her wary of commitment, and at the least hint that Ranma might be more trouble than he seemed worth she had instantly gone on guard to protect herself against possible romantic attachments, foisting him off on her younger sister so as to avoid having to deal with him directly. His curse confused her on a basic level, awakening her dormant bisexuality with the threat of possible loss of emotional control lurking at the edges of her awareness. This was why she had struggled mightily to keep her distance from him, to alienate and distance him from her own heart so that there might never be a romance between them. She was all too aware that he was cute (if at times almost as clueless as Ryoga) with a rugged handsomeness that put all the other boys at Furinkan to shame, and with a body trained to the heights of perfection, making him a rare specimen of male youth who was without true equal.

He was also chivalrous and noble at the core, in spite of the raw edges that marked him as a social outcast, with an ego matched only by his need for companionship, which he unfortunately had been forced to direct towards the unappreciative Akane. Unlike virtually every boy in his age group he did not think with his hormones and tended to disregard any latent impulses towards women that totally obsessed people like Kuno. In spite of having women like Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi all but throwing themselves at his feet he managed to remain faithful to Akane, who nonetheless distrusted him and presumed him guilty of infidelity at every turn. Nabiki had watched their verbal jousts (which almost invariably resulted in Ranma being pounded) and had quietly despaired that the two would ever come together. That was why she had hatched her plan to try and force Akane into realizing the true depths of her commitment to Ranma by briefly taking him away from her so that she could make an ample demonstration of his loyalty to her.

The plan had hatched itself in her mind during the event when Akane had angrily declared that Ranma should be her iinazuke. The idea had seemed brilliant at the time, and on so many levels. Nabiki wanted the chance to be the center of attention for a change and to grab the spotlight from Akane, if only for a few days, having always felt deep resentment at her younger sister's ability to attract attention without hardly any effort. Akane was the darling in their family, the one their parents doted on, leaving Nabiki to fend for herself, which was partly the reason why Nabiki tended to borrow so many of Akane's personal belongings, hoping to absorb in reflection some portion of her charisma. If half of the things that occupied space in her closet had come from Akane, what about it? It just meant that Nabiki had to spend less on her own clothing, so why not apply the same logic to her boyfriend? After all, it wasn't as if she was planning to keep him.

At least that had been the plan, and it had seemed to work beautifully...all except for the part where Akane and Ranma continued to remain stubborn and not do their share. Neither one wanted to admit to being in the wrong or that they had an attachment to the other, and no matter how hard Nabiki had tried to provoke them it just seemed to further antagonize them both against her. She had thought showing Ranma what life with her would be like would put him off enough to want to go back to Akane, and it alarmed her when he actually seemed (for a moment at least) to be warming up to her in spite of his ill treatment. Nabiki had also been playing on Akane's sympathies to make her yearn for making up with Ranma, but it took a fortunate turn of events to bring the two of them back together, allowing Nabiki to close the chapter feeling smugly satisfied in her mental superiority over these two clue-challenged jocksters.

Only not so brilliant after all, as circumstances bore out, leading Nabiki to wonder if things might have been different had she not sought to drive Ranma from her? Having him for a boyfriend had been...surprisingly nice, and the courage that he had displayed in defending her against the other fiancees had touched her deeply, for all that it failed to discourage her from continuing to exploit him. Looking back now she wondered how she could ever have prided herself for alleged brilliance, knowing that she had given up on the one chance of her youth to avoid the tragedy that eventually tore apart her loving household.

The idea brought tears to her eyes, leaving her deeply ashamed of herself as a person. For all that she had endured since then, it was hardly a fair repayment for the insensitivity and senselessness of her behavior. A part of her had known it even then (a tiny part she called-for lack of a better word-her Conscience) that it was a mistake, and in rare moments she had even expressed the truth that had been rooted in her subconscious. It had been easy to profess love towards a startled Ranma, knowing he would take the bait without believing her too deeply as she was a far more accomplished liar than himself. When asked by Kasumi (the only other person to whom she felt close) she had admitted to always having loved Ranma, which she then promptly denied, pretending the whole thing a joke on her part. How was she to know that Ranma would overhear this, or that his reaction to the perceived betrayal of his feelings would affect him so deeply?

Not her, for one...not Tendo Nabiki, idiot extraordinaire and all-time betrayer of the Tendo legacy and family honor. Small wonder that she had been unloved by anyone since the death of her mother, the wonder was that anyone could care for her now, especially Ranma!

A touch of his hand to her chin startled her back to an awareness of herself in the hear-and-now, and looking up in surprise into his too-deep blue eyes was enough to dispel any doubts that there was at least one person who knew her and cared...the victim of so many pranks, and the answer to many more unvoiced prayers and silent petitions. Now at last she could admit to herself that she had always loved him, even when pretending not to care for fear of the consequences that would inevitably come from being his iinazuke.

Tinkerbell was feeling the warm memories of many a summer spent with Watazashi, and of the anger and resentment that had consumed her when her best friend had shown affections towards another, only to have her heart be broken by betrayal. Tink had wanted vengeance on the one to break her 'Zashi's heart, but instead she had to console Watazashi while Zashi's heart had turned bitter. It all came back to her the many times when she had wanted to be closer to her Watazashi, yet being with this other version in the here and now gave her a different perspective on how relationships might be obtained. She witnessed the event when two friends had realized their mutual affections and followed the course of their relationship as it went from romance to physical consummation.

Watazashi saw through Tinkerbell's memories how her other self had turned staunch materialist after giving up on romance, thus ignoring the clues that Tinkerbell had sent her. Yuan-Yen saw what life might have been like for her had she not been bold enough to overcome her own shyness in approaching her Watazashi. Tinkerbell saw through her eyes the joy of fulfillment that came from knowing that her feelings were returned by the object of her own deep affections, and silently the two Tendo "cousins" came closer to feeling like sisters.

Silver and Akira shared many a moment when one had caught the eye of the other, and it forged a deeper understanding that they might share more in common than a single respective parent. Silver was bright and energetic, a force to be reckoned with, and a proven heir to the Saotome legacy, while Akira much of both his "father" and mother within him. There was much to delve into here, and for a brief, eternal moment they lost awareness of their surroundings and only knew of the existence of one another.

Rinse and Tachi were still too far into their own private world to come up for air, let alone notice the changes in their environs, but as they made love they each were distracted by fleeting memories seen through the eyes of one another, helping to deepen the strains of their mutual ardor, even as Ryeka and Atari perceived these memories as if they were their own, helping each of them to understand more of the complexity of their romantic quadrangle.

The other girls all had brief momentary flashes when someone or the other had caught their own interests in a significant manner. Lamyra, Cheetah, Kinko, Tsuyori, Kama Sutra, Veil and Tenko each shared a brief moment where the thoughts and memories of one became briefly the province of another, helping them each to understand how they might be loved and cared for in one way or another by a significant other. Of all though present, however, none were quite so deeply affected as Ranko, whose experience was unique because she perceived the cumulative thoughts of all the others in a wave of panoramic intensity that gave her a fresh perspective of all the other girls (and the cute guy among them), in addition to which were the thoughts and memories of her Aunt and Father. She now could see their past reflected in those memories and saw through them the contradictory images of the one who had been her mother.

This brought on an epiphany, and with it a dawning awareness.

"Hey!" she cried in total surprise, "I've just figured it out! I finally know what I'm here for!"

Before anyone could think to question her on this, the swirling vortex reached out to touch her, and in that moment following this she seemingly faded out from existence...

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Will this Story Never End?: shadowmane

An ending is in the works, I promise you this! Ranko still has one task left to fulfill, and if you are patient enough to sit through the next chapter I shall endeavor to reveal it, and still help these kids find a good home (not to mention a little something on the side as compensation for their troubles). Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	20. Chapter 20

RanSquares18

Realities Squared

By Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the Works of Rumiko Takahashi and Others,  
with welcome contributions by my fellow fanfic writers,  
Nicole Manders, DB Sommers, Gregg Sharp and TH Tiger)

HENTAI ALERT-PROCEED WITH CAUTION!  
YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED!

NEXUS OF PLANES (Gladsheim)

Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane from Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Dimensional Nexus and owner of the Paratime Pendant.  
Heir to the Anything Goes Ryu

"Hello?" called Ranko as she looked around at her odd surroundings, which no longer were the featureless gray plain that she had previously been sharing with her cross-dimensional siblings, resembling more that of a stark landscape of barren rock surrounded by mountains and distant forests. "Is anybody here? Dad, guys, Aunt Nabiki? Anybody?"

There was no reply to this, leaving Ranko to shiver slightly as she was still quite naked in this very strange world, only not quite as cold as she knew would be the case had she not studied mind-body disciplines with her Grandfather, Happosai. She was more than a little confused about how she had arrived at this odd place as the feeling that had heralded her translocation was very different from the tingling disorientation that always accompanied the use of her pendant.

She glanced down at the harmless-looking thing that still hung between her breasts and growled, "What's the big idea, huh? Why'd you yank me out here all alone...?"

"Won't do to yell at your terminal unit," a voice called from behind her, "It doesn't really have all of the answers, even if it sometimes pretends to."

Ranko whirled around to face the one who had spoken and reflexively raised her hands to cover her breasts while she crossed her legs in a defensive manner, for the little man sitting off a ways from her bore a strong resemblance to her Master, Happosai.

"Gramps?" she asked hesitantly, seeing the little guy puffing on a pipe while wearing a very odd little hat and robe with moons and stars that made him look like a stereotypical wizard.

"Not quite," the little guy puffed on his pipe in reply, "Name's Ambrosias, Toots, and I'm a Systems Analyst working for Yggdrasil...that's the name of the Megalithic computer system that currently runs a good sized chunk of the cosmos."

"Oh," Ranko began to relax by a fraction, though she did not uncover her breasts or uncross her legs immediately, still not convinced that the little man staring at her was not a pervert like her Master, "Then...do you know what I'm doing here, sir? I'm kind of lost..."

"So I can see," he waved a pipe her way and said, "Why don't you slip into something that'll make you feel a lot less exposed, not that I have any problems with the view, mind you. Not many young ladies your age are as well developed in all the right places."

"Ah..." in spite of her long conditioning to flattery from being around Happosai, Ranko still found the compliment both unsettling and flattering at one and the same course. Then she caught sight of something out of her peripheral vision and turned to see a tree standing near to where she was (which she would have sworn had not been there a moment before) and dangling from the branches was her trademark Chinese-style outfit! In a burst of surprise she cried, "What the...? No way!"

"Don't waste time doing analysis right now, kid," Ambrosias insisted, "Just slip it on and make yourself ready. You've got a ways to go before you're done with this task, and until you fulfill your goals you and your friends can't really go back home. It's something of a requirement for the Heroic Program that you activated, and unless you fulfill the game parameters..."

"Wait a second?" Ranko asked as she snatched the outfit down and hastily began dressing, "Game parameters? You mean this is all like a big Computer Game?"

"Well," the little man conceded, "It is and it isn't. The program that's currently running is a whole lot more sophisticated than your usual arcade-style computer simulation. I take it you're familiar with the concept of role playing in a computer format?"

Ranko nodded as she finished doing up the buttons to her shirt and tied the drawstring to her pants as she set them around hip-level. She did know a lot about Computer Games, like most children of her generation, which were many generations removed from the earlier and cruder models known in the late 20th. Ranko did not personally own a computer (rather she had one on loan from Grandmother Nodoka, nominally to help her with her schoolwork) but she was familiar with "Life Simulation Programs," and when she had played such games she always preferred the ones that gave you as close to "real-life" combat experience as could be managed. It this was such a program, though, it must have been terabytes larger and more sophisticated than the simulation games that she was used to playing!

"All right then," said the little gnome-like man (or perhaps he was a gnome who just happened to look a lot like her grandfather?), "Then consider this the final phase of the level that you're on, the point where you face your ultimate challenge in order to obtain the reward that's at the end of your heroic quest. Do this and you'll achieve the next level advancement and cure a real-life instability problem that's affecting your basic general makeup. You'll also free your friends from the game requirements that are presently binding them to you and they'll be able to return home to their own respective timelines. You'll also insure that the other problem you just fixed remains stabilized, which benefits the entire Cosmos in the long run. You with me so far on this?"

"Ah...I guess," Ranko noted sheepishly, "This Yggdrasil must be a pretty advanced set-up if it can do all this...only I'm not sure why you need me or the others..."

"The rules of the system require living components...or Users, if you will, just like any other kind of set-up," Ambrosias replied with a shrug, "Sentient life is what it's all about, and free will. You just can't have the system run its own software for nothing, and it's not as easy to diagnose and cure a problem without somebody there to tell the Computer that there is a problem worth fixing. Since the Computer became aware of the problem in Continuum #17046890 it's been seeking the means for rectifying the problem that was created by other living beings, much like you, only without your good intentions. This is the way it has to be, toots, take it or leave it. You're a hero on a quest, so like it or not, get questing!"

"Um...okay," Ranko said, "So, what do I have to do?"

The little man waved his pipe again and said, "The goal is to remove something from its place of concealment so that the system can function normally and your own pattern will become stable. You'll find it at the top floor of that Tower. All you have to do is get there...that and stay alive, of course."

"Huh?" Ranko felt a stirring of energies to her right and slowly turned to regard the hill nearest to them, and then allow her gaze to roam up to its summit, upon which she found a large stone edifice, like a gray-walled tower, cold and forbidding in aspect without taking into account the ominous effect created by the mist and flashes of lighting.

"Just remember," Ambrosias said encouragingly, "Game or not, you can still be hurt, and there's no reset button on this system. Just do what comes natural and let the rest take care of itself. I'll be on hand to answer questions if you need me, but you're the one who has to do all of the fighting and the thinking. I just give clues and encouragement and let you do all the rest since that's the only way you can qualify for obtaining the next level."

"The Next Level?" Ranko definitely was not encouraged by the sound of this, but before she could ask any further question she became aware of the fact that they were not alone. The mist was parting around the base of the tower, and there before her stood a dozen ominous shapes that slowly revealed themselves, much to her nervous apprehension.

They were warriors...fighters, even fellow students she had known and defeated in the past, along with some of her greatest enemies, a few encountered during her wanderings with Master Happosai. Some were armed and others were not but all of them were quite skilled and deadly, and each one now looked on her with implacable hate and a clear desire for her immediate termination.

"Oboy," Ranko murmured to herself as she assumed a fighting crouch, wondering as she did so if the others were in the least bit concerned about her, and whatever they must be doing during her absence...

LIMBO REALMS (Elseworlds)

Akira Tendo-20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Watazashi Saotome-16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Dimensional Nexus Rinse Saotome-17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Dimensional Nexus Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Dimensional Nexus Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox Dimensional Nexus Lylac Tendo-17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Dimensional Nexus Cheetah Saotome-17, amber-furred daughter of Kasumi and Ranma From Continuum #729058146 Humanoid Cheetah Dimensional Nexus Lamyra Saotome-17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi From Continuum #17046289 Beast Princess Dimensional Nexus Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tachi Kuno-17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219

Ranma Saotome-38, black haired Time Cop, Avatar of Shiva Nabiki Tendo-39, brown haired Dispatcher, Lore Master and his Iinazuke

Toltir -Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Time really had no meaning to this place, so whether it was minutes, hours or even years since their arrival was of no never-mind to the many writhing forms that littered the landscape as Toltir perched upon a metaphorical tree (well, it looked like one, but in this place looks were deceiving) and watched everything take place like his own performance gallery where everyone was fulfilling a different fantasy of his, and some were being quite creative in the process!

Of course they had briefly been concerned and distracted when the one named Ranko had disappeared from their midst, and there were the usual expressions of concern and desire to find and restore her, but as near as Toltir could tell the kid had been snatched away by Yggdrasil for purposes unknown, and in his own experience that usually meant having to wait it out while the program (whatever it was) ran its course to fruition. So he had reassured them that their friend would be back in their midst before too long (being careful to keep two toes of one paw crossed as even he could not be 100% certain) and that the best thing to do would be to sit still and wait for her return.

And of course, being mortals, and gifted Men and Women of action at that, the idea of sitting still while others faced peril went over as well as the idea of Saotome Ranma being a judge at a Cat Show. Still and all, the ones named Ekko, Tenko and (of course) Veil all gave their own reassurances that their lost companion would be restored to them briefly...after all, she was a Saotome, not a Hibiki! That seemed to mollify the rest, but it left one problem that humans in their adolescent phase were terribly ill equipped to handle.

Boredom.

Of course that prompted the suggestion from Kinko that they find something to do to keep themselves occupied, and it was open to debate which ones among these hormonally active teenagers were first to suggest doing the thing that came most natural when everyone was naked. From there separate parties took the hint and made their moves, and before you knew it everyone was down on the ground making out with the person (or persons) with whom they felt the strongest attraction. Silver and her half-brother, Akira, for example, were trying each other out to see if "Kissing Cousins" might extend their pursuits in the manner suggested by a girl whose name as Kama Sutra.

In next to no time at all the whole mass of kids were at it in a spontaneous and free-flowing orgy that had no set partnering and a great many players. Lylac (to no surprise) found herself being double-teamed by the Beast-girl and the Redhead, Rinse was blissfully unaware of anything but the three other girls screwing her among her own personal Harem, and Tinkerbell was making beautiful music with the notorious pair of Yuan-Yen and Watazashi. Kinko was flapping her wings to give her greater balance and stability as she perched atop a much-  
delighted Tsuyori, while a girl named Cheetah as employing her tail in a creative manner to give the winged girl some much-needed dildo action, adding a new spin on the term, "Cheetah eats the Canary!"

Veil and Tenko were busy exploring common similarities between Jurai and divine pantheons, and by all indications this was not a spontaneous thing on their part, showing evidence of more long-term planning. Kama Sutra herself was going from one group to the other and insinuating her presence while encouraging the players onward in their lusts, proving to be a most welcome addition to whatever action was going on when she arrived as her skills in Miroku sexcraft served to enhance said pleasures in an altogether positive manner.

As for the "old foggies," Nabiki and Ranma, they were at it non-stop from the moment they succumbed to their own basic drives, and from the looks of things they were making up for lost time as they expended close to twenty long years of frustrated libido in a non-stop one-on-one wrestling match in which both players looked to be the victors. By all indications Ranma had hardly removed his thing from her slot from the onset of their action, just as she seemed reluctant to surrender him from her loins in whatever position they found themselves, like a slot in a groove being filled by a hard peg that he had to keep pounding into her, much to Nabiki's delight as she drank him in with an eager body and equally hungry kisses.

On the whole Toltir approved, considering this a more productive use of time than sitting around and gnashing their teeth in frustration, or sparring together (as appealing as that concept was) in the nude to further hone and refine their combat reflexes. At least this way no one was likely to be hurt, and it was bound to put them all in a good mood so that no one would come away from this feeling as though their time had been wasted.

In all truth, in spite of thousands (if not millions) of years of observing them, the plain fact was that he really did not fully understand humans, which he supposed was a large part of their charm and fascination. Usually people had to be dragged kicking and screaming toward doing what was perfectly natural, a fact which had amused him over the many times that he had played with the lives of Saotome Ranma and his companions. These kids had a very healthy appreciation of fun, almost worthy of cats in their own way, and whatever resistance of inhibitions they might normally have had were well forgotten after the events of this day, where everyone was doing what they felt like with no guilt or remorse in these exchanges.

In a way this, too, made sense as Yggdrasil had no doubt selected these kids after having examined their individual psychological make up to determine which of the infinite numbers of Nerima offspring might be the easiest to play with. It then arranged circumstances to ensure that they were primed and ready to do their business, and do it they did with great enthusiasm and enjoyment. Before they even arrived at their target zone they had their basic moves down and were ready to perform above and beyond the call of duty. One had to admire such skill and dedication, but it was beginning to seem as if this would all be anti-  
climatic in the end, because somebody else was going to finish what they started.

And then he heard the sounds of distant thunder, and as he looked up into the gray void that was the sky above their heads he perceived something that-even to his jaded senses-was utterly surprising. The vortex that had been on that doomed Earth was now opening up a channel here in the Limbo realms, and that meant that something very unusual was about to happen...

GLADSHEIM (The Tower of Baubles)

Ranko was a blur of motion, her body flowing and liquid as she lashed out at her opponents with feet and hands that were impossible to track. With ruthless and methodical efficiency she waded through the ranks of her foes, spinning and kicking like a dervish as she laid them out with well-timed and efficient motions so ingrained into her nature that there were practically a part of her autonomic reflexes.

Because she conserved her energy and expended it where needed she was barely even winded as she took down two dozen foes at a rate that would have even impressed her biological parents. One movement flowed naturally into the next as she dispatched the last of these human obstacles and found herself at the base of the tower with the door beckoning to her like some inviting spider's lair. She paused to consider her options and took the moment to recover her wind, taking slow, deep breaths as she regarded the gloomy depths within and wondered what other menaces awaited her entrance.

"Well, get on with it," the little man said as he appeared at her side, "You haven't got all day. This was just the first wave of fighters, intended to warm you up for the real challenges in there."

"Gee, aren't I lucky?" Ranko snorted, but seeing nothing better to be done she followed the wizened man's lead and entered the building.

Long experience in playing games warned her that there would be trouble the moment she stepped past the threshold, but it was not until she was actually well into the first corridor that her next challenge made its presence known...or rather presences in the form of two massive stone fists pummeling the spot where she would have been a fraction of an instant beforehand.

"Whoah!" she exclaimed in surprise as she came to stand in the corridor beyond the point of attack, turning around to regard the two huge stone gargoyles that had attacked her, "Mega un-cool! You guys are like something out of a Dungeonquest (tm) campaign! Pretty good graphics, though...you look real enough to hurt somebody!"

"That's the basic idea, toots," said Ambrosias, who somehow managed to appear at her side, "And don't stop to admire these things...these guys are deadly!"

The two Gargoyles roared like monstrous stone beasts and charged her. Ranko moved before they were even halfway towards her and with an outstretched finger touched one of the hulking brutes on a spot located on its exposed backside, and suddenly the creature exploded into rubble.

"Wha...?" Ranko stood back in amazement, staring at the demolished creature, then at her finger and said, "How...how did I know to do that...?"

"Look out!" Ambrosias warned her, shaking Ranko out of her momentary surprise as she instinctively dodged the other creature's attack with the athletic agility of her Aunt Kodachi, only modified as she arced herself into a ball then rebounded off of the ceiling, coming down atop the second Gargoyle with one hand slicing down like a blade, and with perfect precision she split the hulking creature down the middle.

"Not bad," Ambrosias commented into the ensuing silence, taking a puff on his pipe before continuing, "You performed that Ax-hand maneuver flawlessly, and your Exploding Point Technique was adequately delivered."

"Adequate?" Ranko sputtered, "It's impossible! Gramps never taught me how to do that, or that Ax-whatever either!"

"Is that what's giving you fits, kid?" Ambrosias seemed amused, "It's true you didn't learn the Bakusai Tenketsu from Happosai, but your counterparts, Rinse and Lylac, learned both techniques from the same source, their great-great grandmother."

"That old woman?" Ranko blinked, then something else occurred to her, "Hey wait...are you saying that I now have their skills? When did that happen?"

"Quite some time ago," Ambrosias replied, "You've been absorbing skills and special knowledge from your companions and duplicating their abilities in yourself through the influence of the pendant terminal that you're wearing. That's the secondary reason why you've been gathering companions in your travels, to make you that much better as a fighter."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Ranko exclaimed, "No way! You mean all this time I've been learning to be a stronger fighter?"

"Well," Ambrosias scratched beneath his hat before replacing it, "The effect isn't cumulative, if that's what you're wondering about. You're the same being you were at the beginning, just stronger in the sense that you now have expanded skills, ability and reflexes. Considering how tough you were starting out, that would make you roughly as powerful a fighter as any of your human-level counterparts. You can't throw lightning like an Oni, and you're not as strong as a Kryptonian hybrid, and your ties to Juraian power isn't quite full strength, but other than this you're at least as good as your old man ever was when he was your age."

"I am?" Ranko thought about it and began to subside a little, "Cool!"

"Better get going," Ambrosias said, "Standing around here won't bring you any closer to your goal, and you still have a long ways to go before you achieve your maximum power levels...at least for this stage of your apprenticeship in the arts of fighting."

"Right," Ranko sobered, remembering that games were usually set up to allow a pause between fights, as long you did not advance forward into the Labyrinth. No advance no gain, however, and if she didn't get this over with soon the rest of her friends (and yes, it still seemed odd for her to think of them in that manner, having spent most of her life alone with almost no one to call friend except her Aunt Kodachi) would be unable to return to their homes. Home had never meant so much to her as it did now that she no longer had one of her own to go back to, and there was no way she was going to consign anyone else to the same fate, so she determined to press ahead for their sakes, as much as for her own. She was a Saotome, and like her father she never truly ran away from a battle.

With renewed determination she pressed on ahead, seeking for the prize that awaited her inevitable victory as failure for her was never an option...

LIMBO REALM

Toltir's eyes widened noticeably as he gazed with the senses of an Elder God at the formerly doomed timeline, seeing reality reinvent itself as the fabric of their reality rewove into a new and far more original pattern...

Continuum #17046890

"Oh Kami, we're gonna be late!" cried Kurumi as she frantically dodged around the house, seeking to get ready for her classes.

"Kurumi-chan," Natsume tried to get her fleet-footed younger sister's attention as she watched the short-haired girl dash to the kitchen, grab a snack, gobble it down and then rush to the bathroom, all in the space of a couple of seconds, "Kurumi-chan, please stop and hear me out!"

She very rarely had to raise her voice to get Kurumi's attention, and the fact that she did now was eventful enough to raise her sister's eyebrows. Kurumi came to a halt and stood alertly before her older sister, giving Natsume a chance to explain, "You don't have to be in such a hurry this time...it's the summer, classes are over, and we graduated from High School."

There was the sound of wind blowing through Kurumi's hair as she stood still and absorbed this revelation, then with a curious blinking of her eyes she said, "Really? You mean it?"

Natsume rolled her eyes and said, "How could you possibly have forgotten our graduation day? It happened just yesterday, and we barely survived it!"

"Oh yeah..." Kurumi said sheepishly, "That's right...we did..."

Kasumi chose that moment to come in from outside carrying a basket full of dried linens, "Oh my...I do hope it wasn't as unnerving for you as it was for me when I graduated. I felt butterflies in my tummy all week, and I was ever-so-glad when it was over."

"Uh, trust us on that, Sis," said Nabiki as she came into the living room still clutching her tooth brush, "It was a LOT more exciting than what you probably went through."

"Heh, you got that right," said Ranma as he came wandering in from the outside, hot and sweaty from having had a good workout with his father.

Heads swiveled in his direction, and even Kasumi seemed surprised at seeing him there in their house heading towards the furo. He caught their astonished looks and froze in mid-stride to say, "What? Is something wrong?"

"Ranma?" Natsume asked into the ensuing silence, "Don't tell me you're back already?"

"Back?" he turned to regard Natsume with a puzzled expression, "Was I gone? I don't remember..."

"You remember that green haired chick you were hanging around with, Saotome?" Nabiki asked archly, "You can bet Akane still remembers her, which means-if I was in your slippers-that I'd keep a low profile whenever you're around her."

"Ah, that Uncute Tomboy can go sleep with her pet pig for all I care," Ranma started to turn away, only to freeze abruptly, then turn around and say, "Green haired...?"

"You know," Kurumi reminded him, "That transfer student you've been seeing on the sly for the last month? Megumi?"

"Megu-?" Ranma's face took on a panicked expression and he cried, "Kami-sama! I forgot...gotta go, bye!"

He was out the door only seconds before an angry voice from upstairs cried out, "RRRAAANNNMMMAAAAA!"

"Uh-oh," Nabiki said nonchalantly, "Sounds like little Sis heard him coming."

"WHERE IS HE?" Akane came stomping down the stairs with a vengeful look in her eyes, causing even Natsume to wince in silent prayer of thanks that she was not named Saotome Ranma, "Where is that pervert gotten off to? The nerve of him, showing up in this house after what he did to me in front of everybody!"

"Oh, Ranma's not here, Akane-chan," Kasumi replied, unruffled, "He left to meet up with his friend, Megumi."

"HE...WHAT?" Akane went to Defcom Three, with hints of a full Holocaust in the offing, "The nerve of that...that PERVERT!"

"Don't worry, Akane," said Ryoga as he appeared from seeming nowhere, "When I find him I'm going to pound some sense into Ranma's stupid hide. He's always upsetting you, he doesn't deserve someone like you for a fiancee!"

"Thanks Ryoga," Akane growled from between clenched teeth, "But I know how to deal with the likes of that Baka. Just let him get near me and I'll make him wish he was never born!"

Natsume kept her counsel to herself, but an exchange with looks her sister told her that Kurumi was much in agreement that their cousin had quite a lot left to be learned about relations with the opposite sex, or even her own nature as their experiences fighting against the evil undead had hammered in the folly of allowing one's own emotions to control you.

Odd how memories of the previous day seemed blurred upon reflection. There was some thought of a machine and being trapped into a hellish device that was designed with perverse intention to suck their life essences away to open the gateway into Hell. Somehow this fate had been prevented when Ranma had arrived in time to free them, and they managed to defeat Gosunkugi in his attempts at bringing on the Ascension. Tatewaki had been there helping out, but beyond this singular fact the details became blurred...which was both puzzling and deeply disturbing...

GLADSHEIM (The Tower of Baubles,  
Third Level)

"Take THAT you stupid Warlord!" Ranko declared as she leaped into the air with the cry of "LION'S ROAR DECIMATION!" at which she unleashed a Chi-burst as the fiery outline of a great Lord of the Beasts appeared around her, smashing down on the three armored figures who stood before her like the crack of a thousand dooms, causing even their magical armor to buckle and falter.

"WHAT IS THIS POWER?" the Warlord named Sekhmet cried over the fury of the assault as he and his comrades tried in vain to withstand the awesome force that had been unleashed upon them. As he started to give way to the inevitable he cried out, "LORD TULPA, WE HAVE FAILED YOU!"

Ranko alighted to the floor as the three formidable Samurai-like armored figures seemed to disintegrate or vanish altogether and grinned a huge triumphal grin as Ambrosias appeared beside her once more and said, "Awfully pleased with yourself, are you?"

"You kidding?" she quipped back, "This is neat! I never had so many special attacks at my disposal before! I barely even winded myself using that! That was way more cool even than the Moko Takabisha I learned from the Old Man. Besides, I never liked that Lame-O Ronin show anyway. A fighter has to rely on her own abilities, not on some magical device that does her fighting for her."

"So sure of that are you?" Ambrosias said with amusement, "Well, keep in mind that this isn't really a Video arcade you're dealing with, and the stakes are Life and Death itself, so I wouldn't spurn any advantages you can find if I were you. After all, you are the heir to the Anything Goes Ryu."

"Yeah, but what's the deal with that?" Ranko turned towards the little wizard, "Why me? I mean...why was I picked out by the pendant to go on this world-  
hopping mission and inconvenience my para-dimensional siblings? What's the ultimate goal of it all if not to save that one timeline from collapsing and taking the rest of reality with it?"

"Well, that in itself was a pretty good reason for dragging you from your home timelines, don't you think?" the little man scratched behind the back of his head, "Besides which...were you really doing anything important at the time Yggdrasil snatched you? Understand, I can feel for your situation, and you're a pretty good kid, devoting yourself to looking after your ailing Grandfather and all, even trying to redeem your family honor after a horrible mistake that was made by your parents..."

"Horrible mistake?" Ranko sniffed, "You mean the fact that they got married or that they had me?"

"Neither one, really," Ambrosias answered, "Your parents were engaged by a point of honor, and they married for love, which should have resulted in a happier outcome, no? Unfortunately the uniting of your father and mother was about as unlikely to result in lasting happiness as the likelihood of Queen Beryl getting the Noble Peace Prize. Oil and Water have a better chance of combining...although in the case of your parents there was a considerable overlap of negative qualities that meant that they had all of their worst traits in common and not enough of their positives. Only by changing the nature of one or the other could a more stable arrangement have been arrived at, which of course is why it's difficult enough to find Timelines where the arrangement was stable enough to result in someone like you, the product of all of the best traits of both of your parents."

"Look," Ranko sighed, "I know my Mom went psycho and killed my Dad and all that, but what about my little sister, Meiko? What did she ever do to deserve being born into a world that didn't want her, and why not her instead of me?"

"Meiko got raised in America and never learned more than the basic levels of the martial arts," Ambrosias replied, "And she never deserved to be reduced to Limbo Status, if that's what you're implying, any more than the rest of the residents of your doomed Timeline. Not to worry, though...you fixed things so that life assumed a very different pattern, so all of those people inconvenienced in your world lived out full and normal lives in the new one. You should be proud of that accomplishment...of course that doesn't mean what you gotta do next is gonna be any easier."

"What do you mean?" Ranko asked when she saw one of the tell-tale arrows light up along one of the walls, indicating for her which way she was to follow to achieve the next level. Ambrosias only nodded in response to this, so she frowned sullenly and turned to follow the corridor directions.

At the top of the stairs of the Fourth Level (so indicated by a flashing sign that said so) Ranko glanced around to find another arrow pointing her towards the next center of crisis. She was still a bit amazed at how much this resembled a holographic Arcade game (Ambrosias's reminders that it was not to the contrary), only much more satisfying with the hint of real danger and the sense of genuine physical contact that resulted from each of her battles. Given that, she had her own real-life experience in Adventure Quests (Mostly with Happosai on Training Missions in which she became an accomplice to his panty raids, before she understood that such things were naughty, thanks to the coaching of Grandmother Nodoka, though later on half of her training consisted of learning how to fend the Old Guy off whenever he tried to cop a feel in her direction), so she wasn't a novice at this sort of thing, not by a long shot! If anything she was uniquely qualified to tear blindly through a Maze in search of a hungry Minotaur (like the one she had beaten up on the 2nd level), so though she knew the challenges were likely to escalate she was not particularly worried, believing her newfound skills would make her more than up to facing any challenge.

She was quite mistaken, of course, but being a Saotome, she might well be forgiven. Overconfidence was second nature to the breed, so when she encountered the next menace it was one that not only stopped her in her tracks but sent chills down her spine like nothing else she had ever yet encountered.

"M-Momma?" she gasped, seeing the short-haired girl standing in her path wearing a faded yellow Gi and wielding the very knife that she had used to stab her husband, Ranma.

Akane Tendo looked towards her daughter without truly seeing Ranko for whom she was. In her eyes was the light of madness mingled with equal parts of love and hate as she curled her lip and said the single word, "PERVERT!"

And then she rushed down upon Ranko, who stood helplessly paralyzed with fright and dread, seeing death approach her in the most unexpected of all packages, and she suddenly reduced to the level of a four year old child all over again reliving her father's death, as well as the death of all the hopes of her childhood...

Continuum #17046890

It was truly a disturbing moment in the life of Tendo Nabiki as she walked towards the park for a meeting with her factors, hoping that Ryonami and Kitsune had better news for her than she had awoken to that very morning.

How odd that life seemed so unchanged on the day after the Ascension. Gosunkugi was no more, and with him was banished the awful specter of that Shogun guy he'd turned into. Most of their classmates had graduated with honors (an achievement in itself, given Furinkan's high mortality rate over the past two years) and everyone was actually looking forward to the grueling trials of cramming for their College Entry Exams. On the whole everything seemed almost...ordinary!

Ordinary if you discount the number of monsters they had to deal with over the past year, or the fact that the man whom Nabiki lo-uh-had an interest in was in love with her cousin (that and the fact that he was a Vampire, which was a whole different level of grief). It was strange how numbed Nabiki could feel over such things, given the number of times her life had been threatened with death or worse (and there was that annoying dream about having been turned into an evil creature, like a Succubus, and being eventually killed by a transformed Ranma, which was only slightly less traumatic than the more persistent dream of that morning in which she was strapped into some damnable device that was humping her like a jackhammer!).

Given that she had been held a year back in class due to a freak situation not of her choosing (more grief there!) and had to study Magic in order to defend herself against a slew of supernatural menaces (well, there were some good things that had come from THAT at least, such as her current skills at divination), she reasoned that she was not doing all that bad for herself on the whole. She was actually looking forward to the normalcy of a college life and had been accepted into a local University on a Business scholarship, and while that Hell Mount business behind her (saying good by to the "Scooby Gang" would be hard, but not traumatic) to the quite competent ministry of her cousin, Natsume.

If only she wasn't currently being haunted by a vision of Tatewaki hovering over her naked body with his loins quite firmly planted between her thighs, his face quite normal and untouched by Vampirism as he gazed down at her with concern and compassion...(and there was that odd soreness between her legs that left her wondering if it WAS in fact just the product of her imagination!)

Nabiki came out of her daze with a start as she belatedly realized that she was about to collide with someone, and from sheer reflex she put up her hands and gave a small yelp, turning her eyes up to focus on the surprised expression of that selfsame Tatewaki! He, just as reflexively, came to an abrupt halt in his tracks and reached out to steady her with his hands, taking a few seconds to recognize her before he gasped rather amazedly and said, "Nabiki?"

For a moment not a word escaped from either of them as she looked up into his face and he returned her look with equal parts of surprise and worry, then something belatedly nagged at her consciousness and the young witch gasped out, "Tachi-your face! The sun! H-How...?"

"I do not know this, gentle maiden," he said without making a move to let go of her arms, "When I awoke it was broad daylight and I was exposed to the sun's rays, yet I feel no pain, and my body is warmed by its radiance. Somehow I have been cured of my affliction, and I was on my way to your place with the great good news when I encountered thee. Forgive that I have startled you, for I know not the reason why I have been granted such a mercy..."

Nabiki reflexively reached up to touch his face, reveling in the warmth of his smooth skin as a yearning for this (now-fully-human) man awoke in her anew, just as the sound of his poetical voice always affected her on such a deep level. She was about to say something to the effect of how glad she was for his transformation when someone cleared their throat from directly behind her, then in arched tones said, "Am I interrupting something?"

"Natsume-sama?" Tatewaki let go of Nabiki as though her flesh burned him and immediately assumed a contrite expression, "Forgive me, I..."

"Never mind," Natsume cut him off, her expression softening somewhat as she gazed at him in puzzlement, then at her cousin, and said softly, "We need to talk. I assume the both of you have been haunted by odd memories, like dreams only half remembered?"

Nabiki gave her Slayer cousin a startled look that held more than guilt over their conflicting interest in the boy beside her and just nodded. Tatewaki did likewise, and then they all three exchanged puzzled looks as the thought slowly registered in their minds that not everything they had dreamed was entirely the product of hallucinatory nightmares...

GLADSHEIM (Tower of Baubles,  
The Fourth Level)

Some residual instinct within Ranko caused her body to move while her mind still remained in its relative stupor. The fact that it was her mother attacking her (or a damned frightening close likeness) had taken her by surprise completely, so much so that the knife stabbing for her innards actually grazed her shirt and drew a line across her rib cage that-while not deep-was a painful wakeup call that broke her out of her momentary mindset.

Ranko reacted as Happosai and Kodachi had trained her and put some distance between herself and her attacker. She mentally berated herself for totally dropping her guard and letting everything she had ever been taught almost go to waste on account of encountering someone whose resemblance to the woman who had bore her was so chillingly accurate. Of course this was only a computer simulation, no more real than the Warlords or the Stone Gargoyles. It could not possibly be the woman whom she had seen carve up her father that very morning (relatively speaking as a matter of her perspective). That Akane had died in an mental ward long ago, and this only looked like her...with the same angry, homicidal gleam in her eyes...and the same bloodied knife that she had plunged repeatedly into her father and older sisters...

And yet, try as she might, the rational part of her mind could not overcome a certain horrible realization that it was, indeed, her mother...or as close to it as she might come, given that she had left her own world behind in a state of virtual freezer-lock. The fury blazing in her eyes was as real a madness itself, and it was hard to fake that "intent to kill" thing that had almost nailed her.

Akane (or the maniac who resembled her) gave a blood-curdling cry and charged at Ranko, holding the knife in both hands like a pro (not surprising as she had no doubt been given some of Grandmother Nodoka's sword training as a post-Wedding present, which naturally came along with training in the use of a Tanto), but this time Ranko had no intention of playing standing target and moved out of the way, side-stepping the older woman and chopping at her wrists with a hand to effectively disarm her. She snatched the carving knife out of the air with a foot and kicked it in the direction of the ceiling to keep it out of her mother's reach, then turned to face the snarling madwoman who was turning to confront her, only to find the woman's bare foot was rocketing towards her face like a guided missile, and backed by such speed and strength that it was all Ranko could do to swivel out of the way at the last second.

"PERVERT!" her mother cried, "BAKA! I HATE YOU!"

That hurt worse than actually being struck for Ranko, for though she knew that she was being mistaken for her father, the fact that her mother could see so much of him in her was a testament to the sort of inner demons that divided her parents in their marriage, and now she could plainly see why it was that the other Timelost kids considered her such an oddity, or why Ambrosias had implied that a child by Ranma and Akane was such an unlikely event. There were issues left unresolved at the time that they were married that doomed their union to a tragic outcome. She was now the recipient of that hatred that had driven her mother to insanity and beyond, she only hoped that she could manage the surviving bit better than had her father!

Her mother was not making it easy, however, with feet and hands flying her way, backed by power worthy of a much larger person, and while Ranko managed to either block or dodge the blows that came near her it was plain that Akane's fury had given her raw power far in excess of any ordinary martial artist. Her strength was incredible, and it was easy to see why some people had tended to refer to her mother as "The Hammer."

Ranko had grown up knowing that she was different from other girls, long before she had even gotten her boy-curse, which was largely due to Happosai. For one thing she was unusually strong for her age, and she had been practicing the martial arts before she could even walk, so while other kids were learning their alphabet she was learning to leap and spring about like a jackrabbit while mastering her Chi to intensify her body beyond even her formidable limits. She had long believed that most of her fighting spirit had come to her through her father, but there was a part of her that could only have been mother-sent, and it was that part that she was facing now, a part that had drive and determination well beyond the will to live. It was the will to fight, maim and even kill that was motivating her now, along with the desire to avenge imagined wrongs performed against her, which was why Akane was so dangerous in the here and now, even though Ranko clearly knew vastly more about the art of combat.

As she fought a defensive battle, however, words flowed into her mind of a memory from long ago, something Happosai had once told her while tucking her in at night, "Mother is the name for Kami on the lips of every child..." (Well, actually she later learned that he had stolen that line from a foreign film by one of her favorite Chinese-American actors, but she had always loved that movie once she was old enough to rent it for herself)

Kami...or Megumi? Was that what the word "mother" meant for her? Was fighting against her mother like going against the will of the Kami? That was possibly why she was having such trouble in this fight...a part of her did not want to win against her own mother! There was madness in the Tendo bloodline, and it was a part of herself, and this madness was now confronting her, all the hurt and rage, the pride and anger, the conceit of her family, confusing that Pride with Honor. It was not, in fact, her mother that she was facing at all but the hurt instilled within her when that madness had destroyed the both of her parents! She had been another casualty of that madness that had driven her mother to rage and brought ruin to her household. It was only now that she was confronting a manifestation of that hurt as an external force, and this realization gave her the strength to fight back, knowing it was not truly her mother she fought but the Madness that was within her.

Ranko struck back the instant that she sensed an opening, aiming a blow for the solar plexus that would drive the wind out of even the most hardened warrior without killing. Her blow came with purpose but no anger, struck at a victim who did not deserve hate or even retribution. Her arm seemed to weave past illusions of doubt, fear and longing to find the true source of all the pain and suffering, and as she struck home she felt a jolt of lightning travel throughout her body, and in the flash of an instant she saw not her mother but another woman, one she could not identify, but who seemed intimately familiar, so much so that she knew that they had met before, and that they were definitely related by blood.

And it was this realization that opened the floodgates to a memory that was not her own, and suddenly she knew who the woman was and why she was so important. The face of her mother was but a reflection of this other woman, for were not all daughters in some aspect the captured light of their parents? Her mother's mother smiled back in silent recognition, and then the image faded away, and with it so did the madness that had separated them by worlds.

Ranko saw her mother's eyes uncloud, her vision gaining focus as she studied Ranko's face, detecting the minor signs that differed between child and father, and came to a sudden realization. Though barely able to gasp out the word, Ranko clearly heard her mother say, "Baby...? Ranko-chan..."

And then she faded out, just as had the Warlords, Gargoyles and warriors before her.

Ranko sighed, then felt along her side where the shirt had been rent, finding the wound there had mysterious vanished and her shirt had repaired itself, as if she had never been cut. The memory of the wound persisted, however, though it was much mollified by a sense of spreading inner peace, as though she had just redeemed the soul of her long-dead mother.

"Congratulations," Ambrosias said as he popped back out from the woodwork, "You want a moment before going on? I know that one was pretty intense for you..."

"I'll be all right," Ranko replied, taking a long deep breath to steady herself as the flowing peace washed through her body, replacing lost reserves of energy and revitalizing a good portion of her travel worn spirit, "So...what's next? Got anything to top this?"

"Up the stairs and to your right," Ambrosias directed, "That should answer your question."

"Right," Ranko replied, not even bothering to upbraid the little man for talking in riddles. She found the stairs and took them in large leaps, keeping on her guard even though she knew that the rules of such games seldom allowed for attacks when ascending to a new level. It never paid to lower your guard, even if the fights were in simulation.

"Okay!" she called out when she reached the top step, "I'm ready for you! Do your worst...!"

One would think that a warrior with her experience would know better than to tempt the fates, but she was a Saotome, and bearding a dragon in its den was more-or-less in her nature.

A figure stepped out from the shadows and into the open, answering her hubris. Ranko gasped when she saw who it was, wondering why she was so surprised as meeting her own mother should have been adequate warning.

He was dressed from head to foot in his black-and-red Chinese outfit, exactly as she'd seen in pictures, and no older than when he had died at the hands of her mother. His face did not register recognition as he studied her over, but instead seemed to be seeing another, as though in Ranko he saw a reflection of everything he loathed in his own life. There was no doubt in the slightest that he was prepared to fight with all his battle fury as Ranko braced herself for a battle unlike any other before this.

A battle to the death against her father!

Continuum #17046890

Ranma ran from rooftop to rooftop at the speed of a hurtling arrow, aiming for the park where he knew he would find her waiting for him, the very same place where they had first met so many eventful weeks ago. He knew she would be waiting for him, but he did not want to keep her waiting.

In his mind was the vision of that first encounter, when he had been on his way to somewhere, just as now, a meeting with Natsume and the rest of their inner circle of Vampire Hunters...only this time what he encountered was not an Undead but rather a woman of the Beast Clans, a race of Immortals who bore only a passing resemblance to humans.

As he approached the spot that he so well remembered his mind flowed back to that time as he had slowed back then, only then he did not know what he would encounter when he came to a certain tree, finding a woman with short green hair leaning against the branches, seemingly the same age as him but in fact centuries older. As he approached her in the here and now he saw her as he had then...a beautiful vision too wild and untamed to be natural, and hinting rather strong of the potential for mischief!

He slowed to a mere walk then came to a halt altogether only a few meters away from where she was, half afraid that she might prove as ephemeral as the dream that she had been a part of. He did not want her to disappear into the mist like a fox spirit, or like Ryoga's mother sometimes did when she windwalked or did some other Oni trick that she had only recently begun to teach Ryoga.

Megumi held her ground and did not disappear, so after a few moments to getting his breathing calmed down to normal levels he smiled at her shyly and said, "Hi."

"Hi yourself, Stranger," she teased, flashing him that trademark smile of hers that he always found enchanting.

A long moment passed before either of them spoke again, but then Megumi straightened up and cupped her hands behind her back, taking a step towards him, then another while swaying her hips in an Oh-So-Interesting manner.

"You finished with business here?" she asked, "I was half ready to think that you'd forgotten our agreement..."

"Never," Ranma said firmly, "You lived up to your end of the bargain, now I'm ready to do my part."

"Oh?" she eyed him coyly, giving him a particularly sultry expression, "Is that why you're here? Just to honor our agreement?"

"No way," he smiled to banish any lingering doubts that either one of them might be entertaining, "I was done with business here a long time ago. I just wanted to make sure everybody else got through graduation in one piece."

"Noble words for a noble fighter," she smiled, "My brother wanted to congratulate you himself, but Amano has his own business to catch up with. Always chasing after that elusive Overfiend," she sighed, "As if the world needs that kind of grief! Noguma can stay dormant forever for all that I care, and his child with him. I'll take things the way they are, thank you..."

"I feel the same way," Ranma assured her.

"Oh?" she came to a stop only a few centimeters away from him, looking him deeply in the eyes as she added, "Do you?"

Ranma felt as though his mind had turned to mush and his feet had sprouted roots anchoring him to the soil as he gazed into the liquid depths of her crimson eyes, seeing all the women who had loved him rolled up in one magical Princess. She was a mystery, even more so than on the day he had met her, but a mystery he wanted to unravel. Without a word needing to be exchanged he took her hand in his own and gave it a gentle squeeze, which she returned in earnest, and then suddenly he was as light as air itself and floating up and above the tree level, heading for the clouds and the hidden gateway between world that separated the Earth from the Beast realm, surrendering his ties to Earth as he embraced a new life with his Fairy Tale princess...

GLADSHEIM

(Tower of Baubles,  
Fifth Level)

To say that Ranko found herself hard pressed in this fight would have been to commit the grossest understatement! Every move she had the man confronting her knew the counter, and every attack she used only gave him an opening to counter-  
attack, and with a speed and power that rivaled her own by a good measure! Within seconds of the fight having begun they each traded a thousand blows or more, filling the air with staccato noises as each used every conceivable portion of their anatomy to try and gain an advantage, only to find their efforts blocked, avoided or countered by the other.

Within the first minute of battle Ranko found herself pressed beyond her normal limits and forced to tap into her reserves to keep going as the man confronting her went at her like a living blitzkrieg, hammering away with moves that she did not even have a name for as yet, and causing her to draw upon those skills that she had only recently acquired from her paradimensional siblings!

Yet her father gave no sign of even being slightly winded, looking more like he was just warming up to the fight and had a lot more in reserve than he was showing. He was older than her by at least a half a dozen years with almost half again her bodyweight, his fury worthy of a dozen tigers as he attacked her again and again, trying to strike her down as though she were everything that wanted to demolish. Ranko was hard pressed to fathom why he was going at her with such an intensity, almost like a hatred to match or exceed that of her mother! She had heard rumors that her father had hated his curse (far worse than any annoyance on her part for being turned into a guy by Happosai) and had long sought a cure for his condition, but the way he was looking at her (and obviously mistaking her for his female half) made it plain that his loathing went beyond mere obsession...because one thing everyone had agreed upon who had known her father was that he NEVER deliberately struck a woman in anger!

Of course her Aunt Kodachi's opinions of her father might be somewhat exaggerated, having been in love with him from the time she had first encountered his guy half. In truth what she did know about the man named Saotome Ranma was that he was a clueless, if basically noble, martial arts master who had tried to provide for their family but had been overcome by the stresses of married living. The Scary Dude who she had met in the form of the "Time Cop" Ranma was anything but what she had imagined her father would be like, and that even taking into account that he was a good twenty years older than the Ranma who had married her mother!

And yet she had seen in that grim-faced man a shadow of the man that was undoubtedly the same as what her father had been in the prime of his youth. The Beast Ranma had shown a different contrast of the same image, and taking from both by contrast the elements they had in common she could extract at least a fraction of what her father had been like, and it was nothing like this crazed berserker who was attempting to bash her skull in with both fists...a supremely powerful and dangerous berserker who knew how to do it properly and was not holding back in the slightest!

Going all out like that would tax the resources of a normal person, but this Ranma fought with methodical ruthlessness, his body flowing from one move to another with perfect timing and coordination, his technique so flawless that it left no openings while leaving Ranko in no doubt that the least weakness or hesitation on her part would be met by the devastating power at his command. It was literally a stand-off that she could not afford to lose, and against a man whom she would rather embrace than strike down, any resentment that she might have once felt at being left alone by him having been dissipated in the fight against her mother.

In desperation she kicked back and put a meters distance between them, she concentrated her Chi and tried to use that force to knock him down, but he countered with his own Chi attack and the blast only served to create a massive shock-wave that momentarily divided them apart. Ranko recovered in time to meet head-on the Moko Takabisha her father hurled her way, summoning up her own Ascending Wave to block it, doing more damage to the corridor that they were in than to each other, though the confined spaces served to concentrate their attacks make them all the more dangerous for either combatant. Ranko backed off to assess the matter and he was on her immediately with yet another attack, summoning up a Coiled Snake Blast that came close to nailing her if she had not flattened herself against the nearest wall, thereby only catching the bow-wave that seared against her flesh in passing.

Ranko resumed her stance in the middle of the corridor as she squared off to face him once again, recognizing that the danger was now escalating as they each called upon more powerful techniques. If this kept on going they might destroyed the entire tower without coming close to resolving their battle. She had to find a way of ending this quickly before he came up with something too powerful for her to counter, and so she searched her newfound memories in hopes that one of her parallel sisters might have learned something special which might serve to her advantage.

She came up with a solution almost without effort, the idea flowing through her like a thrill as she contemplated the Force Lines that she sensed all around them, then extended her hands to the sides and imagined herself gathering these energies with the tips of her fingers. She coiled them around and formed a ball of force in both of her hands, a deceptively small package of concentrated Chi energies that she held in check by force of will, preparing to unleash it in the blink of one instant.

But-much to her astonishment-the man before her was doing the exact same thing, only the energies he gathered were even greater and more concentrated, forming a larger ball that glowed with twice the intensity of her own smaller efforts. Ranko was aghast at realizing that her father not only knew this technique but was obviously better at it, and if he hit her with that thing it would effectively knock the fight out of her, overwhelming her own ball of energy as a Tiger might swallow a cub, and there was no time to gather greater force to match what he had summoned!

But again her borrowed memories came up with a solution, and in desperation Ranko put her new plan into play and altered the composition of her energy ball, causing it to shift in polarity from blue to green, then all the way over into the red shift. She had barely finished changing the polarity when she sensed that her father was about to hurl his own attack, so she lobbed hers with both hands and then braced herself for the impact, watching the smaller ball strike the larger one mid-way between them, momentarily merging with the other powered attack as for an instant the two globes became one and hovered without moving.

Then Ranko instinctively flattened herself against the floor and covered her head as the single ball expanded in size and exploded a moment later, sending out a shock wave that seared the back of her arms like a miniature supernova. When Ranko sensed that it was safe once again to raise her head she saw that her father had been blown all the way down to the opposite end of the corridor and had created a spider-web pattern by his impact. She got to her feet and started to congratulate herself when her father detached himself from the wall, shook himself off and straightened up again, looking mildly singed but still battle ready.

"No way!" Ranko exclaimed in disbelief, wondering just how much of an effort it was going to take to knock her father out of the running. He had certainly weathered the blast a good deal better than she could have done, and if that much raw force didn't phase him then she was at a total loss of what to do to make a deeper impression.

Force was obviously not working for her, and his knowledge of Techniques obviously more than matched her own, so what was left to try if not the "Saotome Special Maneuver?" Running away did not seem like a very good option at the moment, but short of that she was definitely going to have to be very inventive in order to survive the next few minutes!

Something in her thoughts zeroed in on the notion that he had matched her blow-  
for-blow so far, and he had only done the "Haddoken" attack when she had attempted the same thing, so was it at all possible that his fighting technique was a reflection of her own? It certainly would explain why she kept achieving a virtual stalemate no matter what she tried, and as good as she now was, she had the sneaking suspicion that her real father would be a whole lot more intense.

And then it all fell into place and she suppressed the urge to smack herself in disbelief that she could be so dense. All along she had assumed it was her father whom she was facing when, in fact, he was just as much a reflection of Ranko's own masculine aspect, a blending of forms that she had failed to immediately register since the guy appeared to be older than herself. In truth, he did seem rather youthful when contrasted to the "Time Cop" Ranma, and not nearly as tall, which meant he was probably a lot closer to her own age than she had previously estimated.

Ranko deliberately forced herself to relax, studying the other man as he held himself at the ready without attacking. After a moment of waiting he relaxed his own posture, so she straightened out and deliberately lowered her arms, waiting to see if he would do likewise...which he did a long, tense moment later. Ranko upped the stakes a little by walking towards the man in a slow and relaxed manner, and he copied this gesture as well, each of them focused on the other as if ready to snap back into action at the least hint or indication of betrayal. Ranko decided to relax even that cautionary sense and was gratified to see the man do likewise. They continued covering the distance towards each other until they were almost touching, and then each halted to stand their ground and look at one another from the proximity of one arm's length. If either of them so much as blinked the other could react in a mere heartbeat.

"Dad?" she asked hesitantly after a moment, "Are you in there?"

There was a brief stirring of recognition in his eyes, only the next moment something very strange happened and it seemed as though the two of them flowed together into the space between them. There was a very brief flash in which two lives became one, and then there came a joining, and Ranko staggered, looking up to see...

Her own reflection?

Or rather her own image as reflected in the surface of a mirror!

"Congratulations," Ambrosias said as he popped up once more at her side, even as another version of himself appeared alongside the Ranko in the reflection, "Not many people realize the riddle of the Yin and Yang the way you have. You've become one with your other self, and through him you've achieved a harmony with the image of your father."

"That was...weird!" Ranko noted as she blinked her eyes a couple of times in order to clear her mind of a vague distortion, "I'm not sure I can take too many more jolts like that. How many more levels do I have to go before I get there...wherever there is?"

"Not long at all," Ambrosias indicated a doorway that had not been there a moment prior, "As far as I'm concerned you earned a ride all the way up to the top for that last one, so take the express elevator this time. It's less time consuming than the stairway."

Ranko blinked as a fully functional elevator opened up before her, and yet the ease of this statement puzzled her so much that she felt compelled to ask, "That's it? It's that easy?"

"Depends on what you mean by easy," he replied, "You've made it through five levels of tests, but the testing never really ends in life, as long as you keep breathing. There will be other challenges to confront you, other battles to be won, and some with stakes a lot higher than just your own life, but since you made it this far you're entitled to a bonus, so claim your prize and get back to your friends. They're waiting for you to complete your mission, so you'd better go to it."

"And after I do this you'll send them home?" Ranko asked, still suspicious.

"That's for you to decide," Ambrosias winked as he shooed her into the elevator, than winked, "You're the one who still has the pendant!"

Ranko was about to ask him what he meant by that when the elevator doors closed upon her, and then the lights on the board lit up, and all at once the floor beneath her feet shot upward at a breakneck speed, almost causing her to lose her balance as she staggered back into a wall and held on for dear life against the railing.

The car came to an abrupt halt at last and the doors opened before her, allowing her to stare at a room that looked as vast and gray as a vaulted cathedral. A single light shone down from above upon a stone that projected from the floor, and thrust into the stone was a singular object that looked something like a protruding stick of wood, old and gnarled in some unfathomable way, though the sight of it was oddly compelling.

Ranko didn't need any instructions on what to do at this point, so she approached the stone, ascending over the lower rock and gravel beneath it that gave the place the resemblance to some underground cavern rather than the near-  
roof of a building. She mounted the stone and saw the wood beckoning towards her like the legends of Excalibur, and so she laid a hand upon the wood and took a firm grip upon it, preparing to draw it from its granite prison.

To her amazement she discovered that the wood felt warm to the touch, like a living thing, and when she tugged on it the thing not only yielded in her grasp, it came alive and snaked around her arm, startling Ranko as the wood flowed around her wrist to form a wooden bracer that ornately covered her from wrist to elbow. There was even a jewel in the space at the back of her wrist, and it blended so well that it almost felt like a part of her skin, yet it did not constrict her, nor was wear it in any way unpleasant.

"What the...?" Ranko asked as she stared at the arm, only to see the jewel swim with greenish radiance as letters formed there in kanji, and with her sense of wonder already stretched to the limits she spoke the words aloud, "Stone Breaker?"

There was a flash of light, and suddenly the bracer became an object in her hand, about two thirds of a meter long and clearly made of some metallic substance or other, very fancy in appearance while roughly shaped in the style of a Hammer. She tested it with a few practice swings and found the thing very light and well balanced, easy to use with either hand or even with both hands combined, and with a handle just long enough that it could be used to deflect objects as well as to smash them.

"NEAT!" she cried in delight, just before electricity shot all through and around her, and suddenly she was no longer in the tower but back on the gray void of Limbo, surrounded by all her newfound friends (and/or siblings), each of whom was busy performing sexual acrobatics the likes of which defied imagination. Even her father and Aunt Nabiki seemed to be going at it hot and heavy, while she alone was clothed, the hammer once again reverting to a bracer.

"Well," she said with a huff, "Glad to see everybody was so worried about me!"

"Don't be miffed, Toots," said a small furry cat that appeared at her side, "You've been gone for quite a while...in a manner of speaking. Things were getting a little boring, so they started the party without you."

"Ah..." Ranko stared at the cat, "You're that Toltir guy, right?"

"The one and only," he smiled in a way that was worthy of a Cheshire.

"So..." Ranko said, "Mind telling me why everyone's still here? I thought they were gonna get set back once I finished my quest, or at least that's what that Ambrosias guy told me..."

"Ambrosias sent you?" Toltir made a sound very much like what a cat might make if it could whistle, "Pretty snazzy...and it looks like you got one of those custom-made trinkets that they only produce in the Dwarven realms. Stone Breaker, if I remember it right...better take good care of it, they don't give those things away for food stamps."

"Uh...yeah, but...why a Hammer?" she asked.

"It's a family tradition," Toltir winked, "The women of your line are famous for them. Tell you what...you survive a bit longer and maybe I'll tell you all about it."

"Ranko-chan!" Watazashi called up, surfacing from a pile of naked bodies so closely intertwined that Ranko did not even want to guess where one started and the other finished, "You're back!"

"Huh?" Ranma asked as he looked up from nuzzling a much-contented Nabiki, "Well, wouldja look at that! The kids a chip off the old stone block after all..."

"I should remember to convey my sympathies," Nabiki noted drolly as she and Ranma ceased what they were doing and got to their feet, as did several of the others.

"She's back and she's wearing clothes?" Silver snorted as she remained sitting atop Akira, "How did she work that?"

"I'd say clean living," Tachi mused from where she was nestled alongside a happy Rinse (each flanked by an alien girl of unusual hair color, who still were intent on continuing their nuzzling), "But then again she is a Saotome..."

"I heard that," Rinse mused, not so much irritated as amused by her companion's baiting.

A sudden pillar of light flared up, and a moment later Ryoga appeared in leather attire holding two bundles of clothing. He took one look at the array of bodies coiling and moving on the ground then hastily looked away and said, "I'm not even gonna ask!" (But privately he thought to himself that Akari had better not have made any plans for the evening the next time he saw her, because he was in need of some serious "stress relief" such as only she could provide him!)

"Hey Porky, you're right on time," Ranma smiled at his partner, reaching out a hand as Ryoga passed along the packages to him and Nabiki, "So...how'd it turn out on your end?"

"It was weird," Ryoga replied, "But in a nice kind of way...I mean, everything changed after the machine got through doing its business, and then everything was normal again...or as normal as it ever gets in Nerima."

"That bad, huh?" Nabiki mused as she wasted no time putting on her discarded clothing, "So, good triumphed over evil and all that?"

"Definitely," Ryoga replied, "It was like I was invisible and watching everything happen at a super-accelerated rate, and when I finally left there was a whole new generation of kids, just like these, attending Furinkan and getting into their own scrapes and trouble."

"Oh-oh my!" Lamyra gasped, "How...very odd..."

"What is it?" Veil asked, concern evident for her current sex-partner.

"I just had the weirdest sensation," Lamyra mused, "Of two different sets of memories overlapping...only they came together and now are one...memories of two very different lives, the one I lived before and an entirely new one!"

"Well," Tenko mused, "That certainly is a whole lot better than finding out you were never born to your world and fading out of existence."

"Ugh!" Ryeka winced, "Would you mind, Oneechan? Stuff like that's a real mood killer!"

"Okay guys," Tsuyori sighed as she climbed out from beneath her own dog-pile, "Playtime's over, time for everybody to get ready to travel."

"Must we be so abrupt, little sister?" Kama Sutra complained as she reluctantly eased her way out from between her current lovers, "The fun was only just starting."

"You call an hour of non-stop sex 'Just Starting?'" Lylac asked in mild amazement.

"No," Cheetah grinned, "I call it foreplay!"

"So..." Ranko turned to Ranma and Nabiki, who were now as fully dressed as she was, "What's next? What do we do now?"

"Well, for one thing," Nabiki said soberly, "You, young lady, will be going back with us to headquarters. You've caused quite enough of a fuss for one day, and it's going to take quite a bit of sorting out for us to figure out the extent of the disruption you may have caused to the timestream."

"Actually," Veil remarked as she presented herself before them (oddly enough draped in partially concealing clothing that seemed almost to have been conjured up on the instant), "You may not find that much of a difference since it was Yggdrasil that was manipulating these events. I very much doubt if the Celestial Computer would create its own share of glitches while trying to salvage all of reality. This was all so purposeful and methodical that I very much doubt that things were as out of control as they may seem to have been. The important thing to keep in mind is that Ranko here was instrumental in helping to save an entire cosmos."

"Well of course," Ranma said, "After all, she's my kid. Well...sorta..."

"Whatever," Nabiki replied in droll amusement, "We can sort this out later, after we get the rest of you kids back where you belong, with your respective parents..."

"That's just it," Ranko said hesitantly, "It...uh...seems I don't have a home to go back to..."

"Not to worry, kid," Ranma ruffled the younger girl's hair with a playful expression, "We can look after you, just Nabiki and me. After all, you're family, and we just can't have somebody like you wandering around causing trouble like a Hibiki."

"Hey!" Ryoga protested.

"Really?" Ranko looked at him, then at Nabiki, "You mean it?"

"Well, what else did you think we were going to do with you?" Nabiki asked, smiling, "Like your father said, we're family, and family should always look out for one another, eh Ranma-kun?"

"You got it," Ranma said as he ruffled the hair of both women this time, then hugged the both to him, which prompted Ranko to impulsively reached out and return that embrace, causing Nabiki to wince ever-so-slightly.

"We're going home?" Yuan-Yen all but jumped with glee, "Really and truly?"

"Aw...do we hafta go so soon?" Kinko winced, "I just was just getting used to hanging around with you guys! I hate to say goodbye, you've all been such swell teachers!"

"All good things must come to an end sometime, little one," Ekko remarked a bit sadly, "We've had our fun, but now our respective destinies on our home worlds beckon..."

"Not necessarily," Kama Sutra turned and said, "Father...must we end things so soon? After all, we do have some unfinished business that needs resolving."

"Oh yeah?" Ranma was too far gone into happiness to wince at being addressed as "father" by the indigo-haired girl, "Like what?"

"Well, for one thing," Tsuyori said slyly, "We all left so abruptly that I'm sure our siblings back at Miroku House are worried at what became of us. It would only be right to stop in there so that you can all collect your personal belongings, Sisters."

"We can?" Tachi blinked, thinking immediately of her lost money-belt, not to mention her other possessions.

"Miroku House?" Ranma blinked, "What's that?"

"Ah, you'd love the place, Dad," Ranko did not hesitate to call him that, seeing the look it earned her from his direction, "It's a swell spot for taking a rest stop, and we did kinda warp out of there in a little too much of a hurry."

"Miroku House?" Nabiki blinked several times, "That name is somehow familiar..."

"Ah...it's not exactly your average bed and board rest stop, Auntie," Tinkerbell cautioned.

"But the accommodations cannot be equaled, let alone surpassed," Watazashi smoothly cut in, "And it's run by our family with the Ranma there being a prominent member of the household, and they were most understanding when we explained the unusual circumstances of comings and goings."

"Huh, you got that right," Silver snorted, eyeing Ranko rather obliquely and not bothering to hide the smile that suddenly lit up her own features.

"I'm not entirely sure about this," Akira noted, "Their idea of hospitality might be a little TOO accommodating..."

"So who's complaining?" Atari remarked with a wry smirk as she seized one arm of Rinse, prompting Ryeka to take Tachi by one arm as the four of them huddled together.

"Not us, that's for sure!" Ryeka sighted contentedly while Tachi lifted an eyebrow.

"So, what do you say, father?" Tsuyori asked, "You will love the place if you and Mother Nabiki would care to make a visit. In fact, I dare say that Mother Miko would be happy to help you two out if you wish to have a formal recognition of your union."

"Union?" Ranma blinked.

"Oh yes," Kama Sutra explained, "Mother is legally sanctioned by the government to perform wedding services if they are performed within our Shrine. It's just one of the services Miroku House supplies to paying customers...and in your case I'm sure we'd be willing to perform the services for practically nothing!"

"You mean..." Nabiki hesitated before saying, "Ranma and me...?"

"Well, you are both engaged," Watazashi remarked, "And for twenty years now. For shame, Father, keeping Aunt Nabiki waiting for that long. Wouldn't you rather settle down and make of her an honest woman...in a manner of speaking.""

"Hey!" Yuan-Yen protested, smacking her companion on the hip as she growled, "Watch what you say about my mother!"

"You mean...?" Ryoga got an impious gleam in his own eyes, "It's time you two got married?"

"M-M-M-Married?" Ranma sputtered at last, "Y-Y-You mean...?"

An impulsive grin found it's way on his iinazuke's lips as she turned to the two Miroku girls and said, "It sounds wonderful, Nieces...and on due consideration we've decided to take you up on your generous offer."

Ranma went very pale and continued to sputter, prompting Ranko to lean closer to her Aunt and ask, "Is he always like this when you get romantic?"

"I'll tell you all about it," Nabiki stage-whispered before hugging Ranma closer to her, "After the wedding ceremony."

Ranma finally got over his shock, closed his mouth and said, "HEY! Nabiki!"

"Forget it, Saotome," Nabiki did not return his look, though she was grinning broadly, "There's not enough Yen in all Japan to buy your way out of this one."

"Well, I can see everything's under control at this end," Toltir turned to Cheetah and said, "You gonna be all right for now, kid? I assured your parents that I'd have you back before curfew."

"I'll stick around for a bit longer if it's all right with you, Uncle," the were-cheetah hybrid replied, "You can pick me up later, but this Miroku House sounds interesting, and I'd like to see it for myself."

"The same is true for me," Lamyra replied, "I have a sudden suspicion that things have changed a great deal more for me and my world than even my memories would suggest, and I'd like a bit more time to adjust to this before I go back and explain things to my parents."

"And we will be glad to have you with us a while longer," Ekko replied, turning to smile at her own companion, "Right Lylac-chan?"

"Uh...well..." Lylac said dubiously, eyeing the redhead with a new appreciation for this side of Ekko that had been revealed during the quest, and wondering exactly what changes in both of their lives would occur as a consequence of their coming so much closer together."

"If it's all the same," Tinkerbell said reluctantly, "I want to go back to my own home as soon as you can arrange to send me. I...I wanna find my Watazashi and...and talk with her..."

"Be sure and send my regards," Watazashi winked at her, "And remember what Yuan-  
chan and I told you."

"I'll see to it you personally get home, kid," Ranma assured her, "I gave my word that I'd bring you back, and that's the way it's gonna happen."

"It's decided then," Nabiki took out her handheld scanner and waved it at the two Miroku, "There, I have a reading of your quantum temporal coordinates...it should be relatively easy to get a lock on your dimension and make it the first stop on our way to getting you all back home safe and sound, no worse for your travels."

"Just remember to click your heals together three times and repeat, 'There's No Place Like home,'" Silver quipped with a broad smirk on her lovely features.

"Huh?" Akira glanced at her in no little confusion, wondering what he was going to say when they did get back home and he had to explain things to his mother.

"Heh," Silver winked at him, "After all, that's what they always say in the movies."

"Dad..." Ranko started to say.

"Uh...call me Pop, all right?" he replied, feeling slightly awkward at having inherited a sixteen year old daughter who strongly resembled his Jusenkyo curse, "I think that'll work for us both a lot better than 'Oyagi.'"

"Yeah, right," Ranko started to relax a bit more, "Just tell me the truth...does being in your line of work usually get this exciting?"

"Oh no," Nabiki smiled at the redhead rather mischievously, "You just caught us on one of the off-days. On an average day it usually get MUCH more exciting!"

"Heh," Ranma winced, "You got that right!"

"Of course," Nabiki added as she snagged him by the arm, "I usually don't get married on an average day, which I admit is pretty exciting.."

"URK!" Ranma exclaimed in such a comical matter that Ryoga was unable to maintain a straight face and burst out with derisive laughter, prompting a dangerous gleam of warning in the eyes of his partner.

"That's what I thought," Ranko grinned, thinking to herself that the future was looking a whole lot brighter already...

Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Complete Exhaustion of a Premise: shadowmane

Thus ends another "Realities" series, but not yet the end of the saga! Things will continue for a bit in another LEMON story I plan on writing detailing the gang's second visit to the House of Miroku. I promise that will be about as much fun (if not more than) the last installment. In the meantime, those of you who've been urging me to return to writing ATOTW and AVST can take comfort in the fact that I'll now have more time to get back to those projects, including the Sixth climatic chapter of "Ill Met In Nerima." In other words, would you all care to be there?

(This has been a fun series to work on, and to any fellow fanfic writers out there who have their own ideas on how to continue the adventures of Ranko, I'm more than eager to listen, or loan her out to whomever cares to use her for their own purposes. This was inspired by the "Convergences" series but has long since grown beyond its original premise. I've gotten to like writing these characters a lot, and I hate to retire them forever, so...expect sometime to see a third series crop up, just as soon as I come up with a premise to justify another lengthy cross-dimensional series!)

Jim. R. Bader

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	21. Chapter 21

RanSquareSS2

Realities Squared,

A Night of Delights

By Jim Robert Bader

(Loosely Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi,  
with characters and concepts supplied by Toshio Maeda and my fellow Fanfic writers Nicole Manders and D.B. Sommers)

Part One.

Continuum #57821964

Roll Call:

Ranma Saotome -38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki -38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage to Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo -38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir -Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Ranko Saotome -16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo -16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome -17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki -16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi -16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome -17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji -14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Lylac Tendo -17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji -16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki -17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato -16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome -17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi From Continuum #17046289 Kama Sutra Saotome -18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome -18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox

HOUSE MIROKU

Ranma Saotome Akane Tendo Yaku Midori Fubuki Mido Ukyo Saotome Nabiki Tendo Miyu Mido Kodachi Kuno Miko Mido Kasumi Tendo Botsasu Suzuka Ryoga Hibiki Dan Suzuka Shampoo Tendo Ranmaru Suzuka Akari Hibiki

Wulf Midori -17, green haired son of Yaku Midori and Ranma Shikari Mido -17, purple haired daughter of Akane and Miko Kitten Saotome -17, cherry pink haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma Tsuyosa Hibiki -17, black haired son of Akane and Ryoga Omake Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Ranmaru Shibari Tendo -16, purple haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Dan Koi Mido -16, indigo haired daughter of Miko Mido and Dan Shiromitsu Suzuka -16, silver haired son of Ukyo and Dan Tenshin Saotome -16, brown haired son of Fubuki and Ranma Bukotei Mido -16, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Ranma Thorn Saotome -16, green haired daughter of Kodachi and Yaku Midori Rose Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Kodachi and Ranma Achika Hibiki -16, black haired daughter of Botsasu and Ryoga Bonbori Tendo -15, purple haired daughter of Shampoo and Akane Sakura Kuonji -15, silver haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Price Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Tendo and Fubuki Kashiko Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Fubuki Kurenai Mido -15, blue haired daughter of Yaku and Miko Kimera Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Dan Kyura Saotome -14, black haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Ranma Tekase Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Botsasu and Ranmaru Bracelet Saotome -14, indigo haired daughter of Shampoo and Ukyo

1.

"Here we are, folks," announced Tsuyori rather brightly, "House Miroku, home sweet home, and the greatest rest-stop you'll find in all of Japan, not to mention a good portion of the sub-continent of Asia."

"It will be good to be home again," agreed her sister, Kama Sutra, "It may be said that travel abroad improves the mind, but be it ever so humble, there is no bed like your own bed to sleep upon."

"Or whomever's bed you happen to be sharing at the moment," Tsuyori added matter-of-factly.

"Wow," remarked Ranma as he studied the place from the exterior view afforded by the streets, "All that belongs to my counterpart, huh? Pretty swank."

"Actually," Watazashi corrected, "It belongs to the Clan leader, Mido Miko, who is one of the wives of the Saotome Ranma of this timeline. It is shared co-  
equally among the rest of the clan members, but from what I understand it is Mido herself who is the nominal landlord."

"Mido Miko, huh?" Nabiki remarked, "Ran across a pretty thick file on her once...the only surviving member of the Mido family, who were the traditional clan lords of the Miroku House of Ninja. I'm a little surprised that an ancient clan with ties to the Demon realms would proclaim themselves so openly by putting the name of the clan on the front of their Hotel-restaurant complex."

"Not so surprising when you think on it," remarked the redheaded Ekko, "After all, hiding in plain sight has always been a favorite technique of the Ninja, and I suspect that the defenses of the place are rather extensive. Invisibility comes in many forms, and providing a pleasing exterior is but one of many snares that can be devised."

"Whatever," shrugged the purple haired Lylac, "I agree that it looks pretty impressive from out here, but maybe we ought to contemplate this from the INSIDE of the complex? I don't know about the rest of you, but it feels a bit chilly standing around here this early in the morning."

"Don't tell me the cold bothers you?" boasted the blue haired Ryeka rather smugly, "My Rinse-sama was trained to resist any temperature extreme, it's all part of the mind-over-matter technique we learned as kids..."

"YOUR Rinse-SAMA?" Atari bristled, "I don't recall seeing an ownership label anywhere upon her body, so where do you get off laying exclusive claims to MY Beloved?"

"Ah, Guys?" Tachi moved to pre-empt another impending alien Catfight, "Like the lady said, let's move it indoors, okay? I don't know about the rest of you but I don't exactly feel like explaining to the police that we left our clothes in another dimension."

"No worries there," Nabiki said a bit smugly, "You're effectively invisible so long as you stay close besides me and don't stray too far from wherever I'm standing."

"A Somebody Else's Problem Field?" the green haired Lamyra asked, "Those can be rather helpful."

"So what are we waiting around here for?" Ryoga asked, "I don't know about you people, but I'm at least curious about meeting the version of me who lives on this timeline."

"Just watch the Nosebleeds, Uncle Ryoga," urged Yuan-Yen in a timely manner, "This place can be quite a bit of a mental adjustment on your first visit."

"You think?" Tinkerbell asked as she hovered nervously close to her Aunt Nabiki, all too aware of her less-than-clothed status.

"Allow us to lead the way," urged the appropriately named Kama Sutra, and with her sister beside her they escorted the large group of paranormally displaced Elders and teenagers in through the front entrance to the restaurant portion of the building complex, and through the main dining area, which currently was full of the morning crowd of interested patrons, who were themselves in the process of enjoying a good home-cooked meal while watching the various displays being conducted by colorfully clad members of the House Miroku.

It was an odd experience for all concerned, having twenty-four naked women (and three men, only one of whom was wearing a stitch) in prime condition and embodying the highest qualities of exotic and aesthetic physical perfection walking brazenly (or floating in a few cases) through the midst of a moderately sized crowd without even once drawing attention in their direction. However, a few of the people on staff seemed to notice their passage, and those who were able to followed after them to see what all the fuss was about as the two Miroku girls took them through the rear passage ways leading from the restaurant to the Miroku family living quarters, where their arrival was finally met and challenged by two of the Elders, who were more than a bit surprised at what they witnessed arriving on their doorstep.

The first was a moderately tall blonde woman wearing a curiously flashy body suit that left interesting portions of her anatomy open to full view, while the equally tall figure beside her was dressed head to foot in more traditional Ninja costume, face masked from view so that only the eyes were exposed as this one looked their group carefully over (and if this one were looking for concealed weaponry, he-or she-was more than likely to be disappointed).

"Hold it right there, young ladies," the blonde addressed herself to Tsuyori and Kama Sutra, "Would you mind explaining what this is all about?"

"Aunt Fubuki," Kama Sutra replied as she made an elegant gesture to include the rest of the party, "These are more friends who have joined the ones who arrived yesterday, and alternate versions of our parents who happened to tag along to chaperone our little party."

"More guests who came dressed for the occasion?" the masked figure replied in a curiously falsetto tone of voice that was deep enough to be identified as masculine, "Or are you opening up a new fashion line called 'Back to the Basics?'"

"Uncle Ranmaru," Tsuyori replied, "May we present the Saotome Ranma and Tendo Nabiki of another frame of reality who asked that they might visit with us and learn more of the ways of the House Miroku? Oh yes, and Uncle Ryoga is here with them as well..."

"Ah...charmed," Ryoga winced, being rather overly conscious of the fact that he was one of the only people in their group who was still wearing clothing.

"This should prove interesting," Fubuki remarked with a smile, "I can't wait to hear what stories you have to tell, and I especially can't wait to see my Nabiki-chan's expression when she meets you."

"YOUR Nabiki-chan?" Nabiki asked with lifted eyebrow, and then a sigh, "It seems we both will be hearing some interesting stories today. I just hope that we can impose on you for something to wear while we summarize our mission."

"What you need will be provided," Ranmaru assured, "But it seems a pity to me that you should wish to deny us such an interesting view of your stunning profile, dear lady..."

"Listen, Bub," Ranma growled, "Don't push it. That's my iinazuke you're ogling..."

"Oh?" the masked Ninja replied with a telling smirk that could be almost felt without being seen, "Did you think we were going to leave you out? I assure you that we would never do that...brother."

"Brother?" it was Ranma's turn to lift an eyebrow, not least of all because he was having trouble deciding if the Ninja was either male or female.

"This way, please," Fubuki gestured in past a pair of doors that opened without being touched, and with a bow from their waists she and Ranmaru bade them to pass beyond.

"Enter freely and of your own will," mused Tendo Akira as he walked with his arm near permanently grafted onto that of his half-sister, Saotome Silver.

"It ain't all that bad," Silver herself remarked as she drew him along in an entirely possessive manner.

"Depends on your definitions, I suppose," Yuan-Yen remarked.

"Oh come now," Watazashi assured, "It wasn't all that bad the last time, was it?"

"I suppose not," Tinkerbell allowed while nervously glancing at the corners of the ceiling as though expecting them to sprout arms at any moment, "But still..."

"First time for us," Lylac glanced at Rinse, "Was it all that exciting for you, sister?"

"Oh yeah," Rinse rolled her eyes, "Just wait until you see how wild it gets here..."

"Wild?" Ryeka grinned, "You haven't seen anything yet, Rin-chan...just wait until we try out the facilities..."

"You do mean 'WE,' don't you?" Atari growled in an ominous manner.

"I think this may turn out to be yet another round in our little matrimonial drama," Tachi predicted rather grimly.

"Now if that wasn't ever an understatement," Ranko grumbled, "No offense to you, but I wouldn't want to be in your shoes...in a manner of speaking."

"Shoes?" Kinko ruffled her wings a little as she filed in after the others, "You've gotta be kidding!"

"Oh my..." Veil remarked once she and the others had passed through a brief corridor and arrived out in a wider and more open part of the complex that resembled nothing so much as a combination of atrium and dojo, "So many interesting people..."

"Yes," Tenko agreed, "And some are wearing even less than we are."

"Oh yes," Lamyra openly leered, "Such possibilities I see here..."

"Oh my," Tenko commented in open wonder.

Indeed they found over a dozen teenaged youths of varying ages and haircolors working out within this garden-like practice area, some as naked as jays, others in comfortable-seeming exotic outfits, and overlooking their activities were a half-dozen of their elders, some wearing next to nothing and all of them familiar on sight to the new arrivals.

"I don't believe this," Ranma murmured as he caught sight of a Ryoga and Akari serving as teachers of four youths who were sparring together wearing nothing whatsoever, which prompted him to add, "Can you, Porky?"

"What do you think?" Ryoga replied in numb tones of disbelief, "Akari...here?"

"Not the one you know," Nabiki cautioned, "I think here she's that other Ryoga's wife..."

"One of several you mean," Fubuki remarked, "And cast a look over there conducting meditations with your sister."

Nabiki blinked her eyes upon seeing another version of herself sitting down beside Kasumi while three other youths sat facing them in full-lotus positions, all stripped naked and seeming perfectly relaxed about the matter, "Now this I don't believe...the Kasumi I knew would have been forever chiding me about this one."

"Different world, different rules, Auntie," Watazashi replied, "And that is far from the most shocking thing you may witness, but do try and withhold judgement...these people are friendly and seem relatively happy."

"So I've noticed," murmured Ranma, seeing a green haired girl doing an improbable stretching exercise with one foot poised on the floor, the other extended outward while her back was arched like a jackknife over backwards with her fingers extended to catch her weight in a slow, Yoga-like motion. Two other teenagers were watching her perform with calm and serene expressions as if waiting their turn to give a similar demonstration.

And-much to his surprise and chagrin-supervising these motions was a naked Shampoo, who was turning a coy over-the-shoulder look in his direction!

"Eyes front, Ranma-kun," Nabiki rumbled dangerously, "If you want to keep them."

Ranma swallowed and grumbled under his breath, "I was just looking...no harm in that, right?"

"All depends on where you're looking, Ranma-Honey," Fubuki cheerfully commented as they reached the other end of the garden area and passed through a larger set of double-doors that lead into what looked to be some manner of Buddhist temple...only the massive statue at the far end was no bronzed rendering of the Buddha. Rather it was the graven image of a lordly being whose features were like a grotesque parody of an ancient Daimyo...handsome but in a lascivious way belied by the fangs that he was sporting. He sat with his leg folded in the Western manner, but from his crotch area protruded a huge male member grotesquely out of proportion to his already cyclopean body, as if this particular "Buddha" was experiencing a full erection!

To the sides were pillars engraved with the richly ornate detail of totem poles with the faces of what would normally be Buddhist saints only leering and mocking with various "come on" and suggestively lewd gestures that made them each seem to represent a different vice or form of indulgence as though representing various "virtues" held in high repute within this temple.

And here in this "holy place," set beneath the statue on a partially raised dais, was assembled a small gathering of adults whose appearance was both familiar and surprising. Both Ranma and Nabiki were surprised to see a version of Tendo Akane sitting to the left-hand side of a purple-haired girl who dominated in the center next to a handsome man whose face was not familiar. Even more surprising was finding yet another version of Saotome Ranma sitting besides a kimono-clad Kuonji Ukyo as if the two were more familiar than just friendly. The others included Kodachi and three other girls whose hair colors ranged from brown to green to blue-black, all of whom seemed to be sizing up their party with great interest, particularly when it came to Ranma and Nabiki!

Fubuki and Ranmaru paused to bow to the seated woman, who acknowledged the gesture with a folded fan, then smiled and said aloud, "Welcome to Clan Miroku, those of you who come here for the first time seeking hospitality and wisdom. For those of you returning from a journey that rather hastily removed you from our presence, welcome back. I am Mido Miko, and this is my husband, Dan. We are the Lords of Clans Midori and Suzuka, and in the name of our united Houses we bid you a joyous stay under our roof. Feel free to take freely of our hospitality and stay as long as you desire, for what is ours now belongs to you, and what you choose to share with us will be treasured beyond measure."

"Ah...thanks," Ranma said, glancing at his counterpart, who just smirked back as if to hint that he knew something that the new arrival did not and found it most amusing. For some reason Ranma found himself both annoyed and disturbed by the smirk his other self paid to both him and Nabiki, but even more to the hungry leer that he saw plain upon the lovely face of the Ukyo sitting beside his double.

"Your hospitality is most welcome," Nabiki spoke up, "Sorry to say we didn't come here with very much...we had a bit of excitement and lost our things in transit."

"We will see what can be done for you," Dan replied in a friendly manner (TOO friendly for Ranma's liking as the other man did not even bother to hide his interest in Nabiki's curvaceous figure, "We look forward to hearing a full account of your travels. May we trust that affairs were sufficiently eventful to warrant your unexplained absences, young ladies?"

"You may indeed, Uncle," Kama Sutra replied, "We were called away to save the world using the arts of the Miroku for the benefit of others."

"We got a pretty nice screw job out of the bargain," Tsuyori added, "It was well worth the price of admission...in fact, we can even describe the details of the device that was used on it in case you'd like to commission building a copy..."

"Ah..." Ranko eyed the two Miroku sisters as if wondering how they and her companions might be related, then added simply, "That thing was pretty dangerous...are you sure you'd want to risk it?"

"We can build a safer model that will not have an undesirable side effects," Kama Sutra replied, "And I know that our sisters will feel left out if we don't give them a taste of what we went through."

"Or what went in and out of us," Tsuyori added with a smirk that implied fond memories over the issue.

"Swell," Silver grumbled, "You can have it...once was enough for me! Anyway, it's nice to be back, so...where are the others?" she asked with a note of hopefulness in her tone and expression.

"The rest of the children you mean?" Miko asked then nodded to Ukyo, who clapped her hands decisively and waited as if expecting a reply at any moment.

She did not have long to wait, for almost immediately the other members of the Clan Miroku began filing into the chamber to sit down in two rows on opposite sides of the center, framing the party containing Ranma and Nabiki as though their movements were precision-drilled to impress the unwary. Before long every member of the house not currently attending to the restaurant was gathered to greet the visiting party, and in surveying this group both Ranma and Nabiki found cause for being disquieted as there was something hinting strongly of a close kinship in these earnest and attractive young people.

"Hooboy," Ranma grumbled, privately wondering just how many of these kids could likely refer to him as "Father" and mean it.

Nabiki was wondering the exact same thing, but rather than venture the question she instead turned to see her counterpart smirking at her and wondered just what kind of a lifestyle her other self was enjoying in this household.

"Ah yes," Watazashi mused rather fondly, breaking the silence of their party, "How nice to see so many familiar faces...perhaps we can pick things up where we left off, eh Yuan-chan?"

"Just as long as we do it together," her lifemate replied with a subtle hint of warning.

"I've got a wet feeling about this," Tachi murmured sidelong to her own companion, "That about describe how you're feeling, Rin-chan?"

"Like I'm a blue-plate special who just came up on the menu?" Rinse murmured back at the same stage whisper, "Oh yeah...that about describes it..."

"Fear not, Beloved," Atari reassured them, "None shall approach you 'less they come through me."

"Yeah," Ryeka agreed, "If anybody here gets to screw you silly, it's gonna be us."

"Thanks," Rinse rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, "I think..."

"We shall make accommodations available to you for as long as you choose to visit us," Dan announced with relaxed candor, "All we ask is that you make our home your home and partake of the facilities. You will find we come provided with every imaginable amenity that you can desire..."

"We thank you for your generosity," Nabiki replied, "But I don't think we'll be staying all that long. We came to deliver your children, and having done that..."

"One moment, Auntie," Tsuyori spoke up, "There is one important element that Kama and I wish to bring to your attention, Elders. Uncle Ranma and Aunt Nabiki here are engaged to be married...and we were wondering if they might do us the honor of having the ceremony here within our Temple."

"What?" two versions of Ranma said aloud, even as Nabiki blinked and stared at the brown haired Kuonji.

"It's true," Kama Sutra herself added, "We mentioned it to them in passing but I think they didn't quite take us seriously enough, Mother. We hoped that our petition might meet with your approval so that you could formally ask them to remain here long enough to become officially wed. After all, they've been engaged to each other for the better part of close to twenty years."

"Twenty years?" the other Ranma spoke up, "What the hell's wrong with you, guy? Afraid of commitment?"

"And what's it to you, Punk?" the Timecop Ranma retorted, "Nabiki and me...well...we're gonna get married, but we just hadn't picked the right time to get down to business in all the excitement..."

"Then why not make the time while you are visiting with us?" Miko asked brightly, "I think my daughter has made an excellent suggestion...what do you think about it, Sister?"

"Me married to Ranma-kun?" the other Nabiki smirked, "Hey...I can picture worse fates..."

"Such as?" asked Ukyo with a mildly arched expression.

"Like not asking you first for the privilege of course," Nabiki said brightly.

"Good answer," Ukyo nodded, then turned to the Timecop Ranma and said, "You guys really serious about doing this? If it were me I'd jump at it, of course, but then again I've already got my own Ranma and I'm happy enough with him. Of course tall-dark and grim over there looks just about exotic enough to be worth a second glance..."

"Hey!" her husband protested.

"Akane?" Timecop Nabiki asked of the counterpart to her sister, "Is this also all right with you?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Akane asked in surprised, then said, "Oh...well...a long time ago I was engaged to the Baka, but if you want him you can have him..."

"Thanks a lot," both Ranma said in chorus, then exchanged mutually non-plussed glances at each other.

"Splendid!" Dan clapped his hands together, "We can have the ceremony right away, or as soon as you'd like. It can be a full Miroku House affair with all the appropriate rites for safe passage into a long and fruitful marriage. As you can see for yourself we here in the Miroku house have been very prolific in our marriages, and it would please us to no end to give some of that success to you in your journey into matrimony."

"Ah...well..." Ranma blinked his eyes, then exchanged nervous looks with his Nabiki.

"Go for it, you moron," Ryoga stage-whispered, "They're offering to host the party, the least you can do is accept it."

"Hey, don't push me, I'm thinking about it already!" Ranma urged his directionally challenged partner.

"That could take a week, at least," the other Nabiki replied, "What about it, Sis? You gonna be passive or you gonna grab the hunkster and drag him kicking and screaming to the altar?"

"Ah...well..." Timecop Nabiki reluctantly responded.

"They accept!" Ranko spoke up on a whim.

"What's that?" Ranma blinked as he looked at her, even as Nabiki turned a surprised look in the redheaded girl's direction.

"Look, you guys offered to adopt me, right?" Ranko reasoned, "That means I get to have you as my mother and father, and what kind of role models are you making for me if you don't get married?"

"You know, that is a very good point," Watazashi mused.

"Air tight with me," Yuan-Yen grinned, "Right Mom?"

"Eh...?" Nabiki once again glanced from her alleged pan-dimensional offspring before turning back to exchange another look with Ranma, who sighed at last as he took his hand in her own and said, "Well...why the hell not? Sounds better than a trip to Vegas."

"Do I take that for a second proposal?" Nabiki arched an eyebrow in a significant manner.

"You can take it however you like," Ranma replied, "Too bad I ain't got a ring, but...hey...you over there, loser!"

"Are you talking to me?" the other Ranma snorted.

"Got a lump of coal around here I can use?" replied the Time Cop.

"A lump of coal?" Dan arched an eyebrow, "This I have got to see..."

At a nod from his head, Ranmaru reached into one of the fiery braziers that illuminated the room and extracted a piece of unburned anthracite, which same he passed along with a toss over to Ranma.

"Thanks," Ranma said, placing the coal in between his hands and pausing to cup them together.

"Not that old trick again?" Ryoga rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Hey, I've been practicing," Timecop Ranma replied before his face grew alight with an intense focus of his concentration. His aura flared to life as his hands pressed together and for a moment they were surrounded by a glowing ball of force that lasted a full minute and then just as abruptly subsided.

Nabiki watched this with a lifted eyebrow and said nothing until Ranma uncupped his hands and presented what looked like a lump of fused glass for her inspection. From seeming out of nowhere she produced a jeweler's eyeglass and began to critically examine the slightly brown mass, but then she put the glass away and set the stone in the palm of one hand, holding it up before her eyes before tapping it with the tip of one finger.

The object fell apart into several precisely cut shards, and in the middle of this was a perfectly faceted stone roughly the size of a glistening blue-white marble.

"Neat trick," the other Nabiki commented from where she was standing with a look of amazement.

"It comes in handy sometimes," Nabiki eyed the faceted stone before nodding with approval, "Now all it needs is a setting. Ranma-kun, consider yourself proposed to."

"Then may I be among the first to congratulate the happy couple?" said a surprisingly mild-tempered and pleasant sounding Kodachi, who gave the Timecop Ranma a friendly peck on the cheek that left him as stunned as a statue, "You really do seem to make a wonderfully matched couple."

And without the least hint of ill intent on her part the Black Rose gave both Ranma and Nabiki an affectionate caress on their exposed nips with fingers training down to pat their respective exposed buttoxes. Ranma's eyes flashed alarm at this, which was nothing compared to the look of surprise on Nabiki.

"Splendid," Miko approved, "Then we'll have the ceremony tonight after the bride and groom are given a chance to freshen up with some Miroku-style hospitality to help them on their way to the altar."

"Heh, trust me on this, Brother," the Miroku Ranma smirked, "You ain't never been to a Bachelor party the way we throw them here!"

"Same thing goes for you, Sugar," Ukyo leered at a suddenly nervous Nabiki, "Trust us...you won't regret your stay here...I guarantee it."

"That's pretty much a given," the other Nabiki replied, exchanging amused looks with Kasumi and Akane.

"Why do I have this feeling that this is going to be a wedding to remember?" Lylac asked.

"The odds to seem to favor this in strong measure," Ekko replied with a rare grin of her own as she slipped her hand around the purple haired girl, causing Lylac to raise both eyebrows.

"Hey, is it okay with you guys if I take off on my own for a while?" Kinko asked, her eyes seeking out a certain group of Miroku teens very close to her own age group, "I've got some unfinished business of my own if you don't mind me picking up where we left off?"

"Mind?" asked one of the teens in question, "Why should we mind, eh?"

Her brothers and sisters all smirked and nodded their heads in assent, which prompted Tinkerbell to remark, "Oh yeah...I can definitely see where this is going...I just hope 'Zashi'll some day be able to forgive me..."

2.

Ranko Saotome Tsuyori Saotome Bukotei Mido Silver Saotome Lamyra Saotome Kitten Saotome Akira Tendo Sakura Kuonji

"Here we go," Tsuyori remarked as she led the way into one of the saunas attached to the gymnasium-dojo part of the complex, "This should do nicely in fulfilling our needs for the present."

"Ah...okay," said Ranko, who now had a towel wrapped around her upper body, "If you say so..."

"I don't get what you're up to, Sister," Silver frowned, "Ain't you had your fill of us from the last time?"

"From you, never?" Tsuyori smiled, "I just never got the chance to thank you properly for that ride you gave me right before we were transferred away from our fun in the day room...and I thought your brother and our lovely friend, Lamyra, might enjoy our facilities while the adults discuss the details of impending wedding. You don't really mind that, do you?"

"Well..." Akira hesitantly answered.

"I would love to see what you people have to offer," Lamyra smiled back, "This place is incredible, it's almost something like what the Beast World might have to offer if it were set up properly for humans."

"All the comforts of home," Ranko smiled as she breathed in the warm air of the sauna.

"Yeah," Silver agreed, "If your home happens to be a brothel."

"Now be nice," said a sultry voice as a silver-haired Sakura stepped into the room with a sultry expression.

"You don't hear us complaining about the place where you hail from, do you?" added Bukotei the Fan Dancer, currently dressed in nothing but the leer that crossed her expression.

"Hey, what is this?" Silver was instantly on her guard and full of suspicion.

"These are your Masseuses," Tsuyori waved a hand to indicate the two of her sisters who were present, "Miroku hospitality requires full attention to the needs of both the mind and body...and-let's face it...after what we've all been through, we could use the attention."

"You mean a backrub?" Ranko asked.

"That's...one way of putting it," Sakura smiled she sauntered up beside Akira and said, "Remember me, Handsome?"

"How could he forget about me?" Bukotei silkily slipped an arm around Akira's waist and gave him a punch down below where the towel was covering his fanny. The young man gave a mild yelp, at which point Silver bristled and looked ready to cause mischief.

"Hey, cool it, okay?" Ranko urged, "They don't mean anything bad, and we're not here to cause trouble."

"Besides," Tsuyori cooed as she smoothly slid into the space between the other three paradimensionlly displaced Saotome siblings, "There's no need for jealousy here...we intend to see to it all your needs are attended, and it's not like you didn't take liberties of your own when you were last among us."

"Eh?" Silver eyed the other girl then said, "Ah...look, if it's the Ass thing I did with you, well...at the time I was kinda..."

"Jealous?" Ranko lifted an eyebrow, "No fooling."

"Listen, Red," Silver growled, "The day you get a boyfriend of your own is the day you can talk to me about jealousy around predatory Fems..."

"Excuse me," a friendly voice cheerfully hailed from the door to the sauna, "I was looking for Rinse's party...oh well...what have we here?" she sidled up alongside Lamyra and said, "You're that other flying girl...the newcomer, what's your name?"

"Lamyra," the green haired girl replied matter-of-factly.

"Coolness!" Kitten leered, "Wanna take a tour of the place with me? I can show you some interesting sights if you're in the mood for a little playing around."

"I'd like that very much," Lamyra said, "But I was promised a backrub..."

"No sweat then," Kitten leered, "I'll be happy to give you one."

"Oh really?" Lamyra leered back, "And where would you like to start?"

"Over there looks nice," Kitten pointed to one corner where a flat bench was already set up like a small table, "Just lay face down and let me do all the work, Honey-bunch."

Lamyra dutifully complied, laying face-down on the bench while Kitten positioned herself above her and began to rub her hands together.

"I like you guys's idea of full service," Silver remarked as she saw Kitten remove the towel to expose the green haired Beast-girl's naked back, and then the cherry-pink-haired Saotome went to work applying hand lotion to the well-  
padded areas of the other girl's body.

"Thank you," Bukotei replied, "We manage."

"Why don't you come over here, handsome, and we'll give you a rub-down?" Sakura indicated yet another bench close to the others, and with only a token of reluctance for his part, Akira allowed himself to be drawn along by the silver haired Fox-girl.

"Traitor," Silver grumbled under her breath, then yelped in surprise as she found Tsuyori's hand caressing her own bottom.

"You're next," their Miroku counterpart indicated another bench, and then Bukotei took Ranko by the hand and led her to yet another bench parallel to the others. In short order all four house-guests were stretched out on towels while their naked behinds were being attended to by Miroku.

"Oh man..." Ranko groaned, "Now this is more like it!"

"You said it, Girlfriend," Silver soothed, momentarily forgetting all about her jealousy over Akira as Tsuyori began to work her nerves and stimulate sensations that were powerfully distracting.

"Feels good doing this in a warm and comfortable environment, huh?" Kitten remarked as she went to work pleasuring Lamyra.

"Oh yes..." the green haired girl moaned contentedly, "This sure is what I'd call living..."

"Just relax those muscle groups and let us do all the work, Handsome," Sakura urged a still-tensed Akira.

"This does feel good," Akira sighed as he began to relax a bit more, still too conscious of the fact that Silver was close nearby and taking notice of his progress.

"All that hard work we just went through was pretty exhausting for you, my Sisters," Tsuyori noted as she kept Silver too busy groaning to make protest, "We all deserve a break from such strenuous activities. Just lay still and breathe deeply and we Miroku will see to it that you are rewarded for your labors."

"Hey, by the way, Sis," Kitten spoke up, "You never did tell us where you guys went to in such a hurry?"

"Oh yeah," Sakura agreed, "Where did you and Oneechan get off to while the rest of us were busy slaving away in the kitchens?"

"I don't know that I would call that slaving," Tsuyori mused, "But when friend Ranko here drew us along with her pendant we wound up in a Limbo-like realm that was on the verge of delivering us to another parallel timeframe. Lamyra-chan's world, as a matter of fact, which was being ravaged by minions of the Demon realms other than Shikima...the world of the Overfiend, as a matter of telling."

"The Overfiend?" Bukotei asked, "Not that old legend..."

"'Fraid so," Ranko sighed, indicating the pendant that currently constituted her only article of clothing, "Seems we got drawn to a place where the Earth was on the verge of a total reality melt-down, but we were able to save it thanks to some fancy machine that helped restore everything to normal."

"Sounds fascinating," Kitten leered as she gave Lamyra a slow caress to the space between her ass-cheeks, "What kind of a machine was that?"

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Akira murmured softly.

"Try us," Sakura replied, "You wouldn't believe the stuff we already take for normal."

"The device in question," Tsuyori replied, "Was called a 'Nazi Rape Machine,' essentially a large wheel around which twelve women were mounted in harnesses designed to stimulate them to sexual ecstasy, and at the height of their enjoyment drain this energy to power the inner wheel, which consisted of four other mounted women, with a seventeenth girl located in the center. These cumulative energies were used to cause a dimensional inversion that reversed the effects of the previous Rape Machine and restored the dead to life, who then took our places on the Wheel while the rest of us were transported back into Limbo."

"A device that stimulates girls into sharing an orgy?" Kitten breathed, "That's so cool! Sis, you get so lucky at times that I almost want to rape you!"

"Why stop yourself at that?" Sakura replied, "I'd rape Oneechan anyway, and I don't need a device to make me do it either."

"Well...'Rape' is such a crude term," Bukotei remarked, "I'd much prefer to call it 'Forcible Seduction.'"

"Well, whatever you call it," Ranko sighed, "I'm just glad that whole business is over. Be nice to get things back to relative normal..."

"Whatever you call normal," Silver dutifully noted.

"Well, normal for you two can mean a lot of very different things," observed Tsuyori as she continued to work on Silver, while Bukotei was steadily increasing the stimulating effect of her fingers on Ranko, "For example...have you ever considered the fact that the both of you seem to share so many things in common?"

"Huh?" Ranko murmured, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Tsuyori explained, "Differences in history and parentage aside, you both share a powerful resemblance to one another in terms of physical attributes, notwithstanding your different hair colors. You are each strong, brave and noble defenders of the weak and the innocent and highly accomplished martial artists. You are each very confident of yourselves and your abilities, and you protect the ones you care for in a way that I find both shining and heroic."

"In other words," Bukotei remarked, "You're both worthy of the name Miroku."

"If you're saying we should adopt them, then I'll all for it," Kitten nodded with approval, giving extra special attention to the green haired girl yielding to her caresses before adding, "And this one's got responses just like us. I can already tell that she's had pretty advanced sex training."

"Well," Sakura mused, "I guess when you get down to it, they are Saotomes, and as such they have much the same potential that we do. All that's lacking is the full training in our Sexcraft."

"One step at a time, Sisters," Tsuyori encouraged, "What about it, Sister...do you want to know more about what we Miroku have to offer?"

"Ohhh...that's nice..." Silver arched her back then said, "Ah...sure...whatever...I mean...ah! Oh! Ohhh-YEAH!"

"You mean you guys teach this stuff?" Ranko found her entire spine was tingling with electricity while her pelvis tingled with a very different expression, and when Bukotei's hand caressed the crimson bush that was her pelvis she arched and sighed with absolute abandon.

"Only to those who demonstrate the gift for it," Bukotei mused, "Are you interested...Sisters?"

"Sure," Lamyra groaned, "Whatever you say...just don't stop doing that...please?"

"Hey, it's my pleasure," Kitten grinned like her namesake.

"So much for this side, big guy," Sakura urged Akira, "Turn around and face upward so I can get at the rest of you, Lover."

"Turn...around?" Akira's eyes widened.

"Lover?" Silver opened an eye and said, "Hey...!"

"What I am saying is that-while you are staying with us as our guests-you might as well train with us," Tsuyori remarked, "And that means the two of you can practice Sexcraft on each other, Sisters Silver and Ranko."

"OH?" both girls replied, turning their heads to glance meaningfully at one another...

3.

Ranma Saotome Ranma Saotome Miko Mido Kasumi Tendo Nabiki Tendo Ukyo Saotome Dan Suzuka Nabiki Tendo Ryoga Hibiki Ryoga Hibiki Fubuki Mido Akane Tendo Ranmaru Suzuka Akari Hibiki Miyu Mido Shampoo Tendo Botsasu Suzuka Yaku Midori Kodachi Kuno

"So, Bro," said the Ranma of the House Miroku, "You married the Tomboy and it didn't work out, huh? That's tough, but at least it shows me that I made the right choice staying with my Ucchan."

"Hey!" Akane protested, "Sounds more like to me that you were just as much at fault for the failure of his marriage, Baka."

"Now you two," Ukyo shook her head sagely, "Don't get started in front of our guests."

"It sounds like such a sad story the way you tell it," Miko nodded to Ryoga, who had done most of the explaining, "How sad that so much of your lives has been wasted due to the tragedy for which neither one of you was truly at fault..."

"I'm not so sure of that," Nabiki (TC) said softly, "I made a lot of mistakes on my own, not the least of which was trying to foist Akane onto Ranma."

"I made the same mistake as you, Sis," Nabiki (Miroku) replied, "Only difference is we all came to our senses before anybody got really hurt."

"Indeed," Shampoo nodded, "We should all give thanks to our splendid good fortune. How sad that my counterpart should end her days so tragically on that world. If only we had the chance to meet so that I might counsel her on the...alternatives that were available to her back then."

"You mean like hitting on me instead of Ranma?" Akane grinned, "That sure would have made a difference..."

"Um..." Nabiki (TC) hesitated, "Let me see if I have this right...are you saying that you, Sis, are an avowed Lesbian and you're clan-married to Mido-san here?"

"I'm one of her wives, if that's what you mean, sure," Akane grinned, "I wouldn't say I was a total Lesbian, though...I'm also married to Ryoga-kun, but thankfully not to the Baka over there that you want to marry."

"I am so thrilled," Ranma (TC) snorted.

"Don't be," Ranma (Miroku) advised, "Just be glad for me that I dodged your bullet."

"Shut up, Ranma," Ryoga (Miroku) chided before turning to his Time Patrol counterpart, "So...you married Akari on your world too, huh? That's great, right Hon?"

"Oh yeah," Akari grinned broadly, glancing from one man to the other, "You're a stud on two worlds, my little Piglet. I'd love to see how the both of you measure up in the same bed..."

"Huh?" Ryoga (TC) replied with a frankly stunned expression.

"For the record, Sis," Nabiki (TC) resumed, "You and Shampoo also share a mat together?"

"What do you think?" Akane leered, taking Shampoo by the hand and squeezing it tightly.

"Akane is this One's Airen, every bit as much so as Ranma," Shampoo replied, "But first wife status must go to Ukyo, who made it possible for us to all be together."

"Got that right, Sugar," Ukyo leered back their way, then sobered and regarded the Time Patrol Ranma sagely, "Can't say I'm any too surprised that my counterpart on your world gave up her life for you, Ranma-kun. I'm just surprised you put her through so much when you could have left your wife and started up a new life together."

"Yeah...well..." Ranma (TC) glanced down sadly, "Made a lot of mistakes that I've lived to regret, and that's just one near the top of the list. Ucchan did everything for me to try and help, and I...I just didn't understand how much she meant to me at the time...I let her down, and I can't ever forget that."

"It would appear to me that you have tortured yourself enough on that subject," Dan remarked with obvious sympathy in his expression, "It does no good to live in the past, believe me. There comes a time when you must learn from your mistakes and move on..."

"Yeah," Ranma (Miroku) replied sourly, "Just make sure you never repeat the same mistake with Nabiki. She deserves better than that from what I've been hearing."

"Yeah, well..." Ranma (TC) replied, "I'm gonna make a good effort to stand up for her for putting up with me all this time..."

"Just make sure you stand up the right way for her, Ranma-kun, " Kasumi spoke up, surprising even the Time Patrol Nabiki with the lasciviousness of that declaration.

"Heh, good one, Sis," Nabiki (Miroku) complimented.

"Just hope this sorry guy can get it up for her," Akane smirked, "Be a shame if she's waited this long to finds out the guy is limp in his performance."

"Now that does raise a very interesting point," Fubuki pointed out, "I wouldn't want my Nabiki marrying some guy who only thinks he knows how to please her."

"YOUR Nabiki?" Nabiki (TC) responded as she eyed the blonde Ninja-girl with a raised eyebrow.

"You, get over it, Sis," Nabiki (Miroku) replied with a leer that went well beyond the suggestive.

"I think the question being raised here is valid," Miko noted, "Just how much schooling in the Sexual arts have you two had, prior to this...what did you call it again?"

"A Nazi Rape Machine, renamed the 'Wheel of Ecchi,'" Ryoga responded.

"Hardly what I'd call a good first introduction to the arts of pleasure," Dan observed, "You two deserved to be joined in a real ceremony of love, and for that you need the help of the Miroku."

"Help?" Ranma (TC) arched an eyebrow, "You saying I don't got what it takes to make Nabiki happy?"

"Not at all, Bro," Ranma (Miroku) replied, "But it sounds like you do need a few pointers, and if you really wanna get things off to the right start, then you've come to the right place, believe me."

"Ranma-kun is right," Kasumi said, "From what you had described of your relationship, you have spent the better part of twenty years in sexual reclusion while she has been forced to seek outside help with her friend, Ryonami. One encounter alone does not make you experienced..."

"But if you're going to go twenty years waiting for it to happen again, then you definitely need a few clues so as not to make yourself a total Jackass, Sugar," Ukyo leered, "And that's what the Miroku are here for, to make sure no woman or man ever suffers from privation."

"Just...what exactly are you implying?" Nabiki (TC) asked, trying not to sound too worried.

"Not to worry, Sis," Nabiki (Miroku) replied, "We've you covered on all angles, trust me on that."

Ranma (TC) and Nabiki (TC) exchanged puzzled looks and then Ryoga (TC) murmured, "Why does the sound of that suddenly have me worried...?"

3.

Rinse Saotome Shikari Mido Tachi Kuno Shibari Tendo Ryeka Masaki Bonbori Tendo Atari Moroboshi Koi Mido

"Y'know," Rinse groused, "Somehow or other, I just knew this was gonna happen..."

"Stop complaining and relax," Tachi smiled, "You make it sound as if something horribly unpleasant was about to happen to you when all that's going to happen is that you get another fine screwing."

"You call that nothing?" Rinse visibly sweated as she contemplated the contraption that the Miroku had strapped her into this time, all so Atari and Ryeka could resume their "unfinished business" of seeing which one of them would make the better sexual partner. It hardly reassured her that Tachi had "volunteered" to be subject to a similar treatment, laying now beside her in a matching swing as the two of them contemplated the six other girls currently selecting which vibrators to use as their chosen "weapons of seduction."

"To tell the truth," Tachi mused, "No, not really...and yes, that is a double-  
negative. Still and all, I think I managed to swing pretty good terms for the both of us. Ryeka and Atari will take turns screwing me and then go to work on you...I rather think they've been looking forward to this since I announced myself as yet another potential fianc e."

Rinse eyed her cousin and lifelong companion dubiously then said, "If you really mean that, then should you be the one to screw me?"

"All in good time, Rin-chan," Tachi replied as she experimentally tested the bonds that held her feet apart and suspended part of her weight on her wrists, the "cradle" of the swing open in such a way that one would have no difficulty finding access to her most private "nether" regions, "I think we will have to abide for a time and do things the Miroku way, which means I have to earn the right to screw you...which I take as something of a challenge."

"You may be in for worse than you realize, Tachi," Rinse cautioned, "The last time Ryeka and Atari had an orgasm together my hair was almost turned into an afro."

"Well, look on the bright side, Cousin," Tachi philosophized, "The worse thing that can happen here is that we both expire blissfully with a smile on our lips."

"Sure," Rinse groused, "Deep fried or pan-baked, and extra crispy along the edges."

"Now that you mention it," Tachi mused, "I am a little hungry and could go for a Pizza. Too bad Ryoukio didn't come along for this ride, he's almost as good as his mother when it comes to whipping up a batch of Okonomiyaki."

"Hungry?" Shikari Mido asked, "You're in the right place for it."

"Yes," her sister, Shibari, noted, "This does happen to be a restaurant."

"No wonder I feel like I'm on the menu for tonight," Rinse said.

"Guess that makes me the second helping," Tachi mused, "But if it's any consolation, Rin-chan, you make a lovely prime special. "

"That's your idea of a consolation?" Rinse asked as she saw Ryeka, Atari and the others advance with weapons drawn (and well lubricated), to which she could only whimper that famous Japanese exclamation, "Momma Mia..."

4.

Tinkerbell Tendo Omake Tendo Tsuyosa Hibiki Watazashi Saotome Rose Saotome Shiromitsu Suzuka Yuan-Yen Tendo Thorn Saotome Tenshin Saotome Kinko Kuonji Achika Hibiki Bracelet Saotome

"Ah, it's nice to be back in civilized accommodations," Watazashi mused, "I simply must make a note of the facilities here and have mother commission a carpenter to supply a set to our living quarters. I'm sure mother will see the advantages and convince father that it is in everyone's best interest."

"I'm with you on this, 'Zashi-chan," Yuan-Yen said with enthusiasm, "These toys are great for relieving stress and all those built-up tensions. Sure a lot more soothing to the ol' self esteem than having some impersonal contraption doing it to you. Give me the personal touch any day, right Omake-chan?"

Omake could only moan in response to this, having her mouth currently filled with the slick-end of a ball-cock as Yuan-Yen slid it in and out of her mouth while Watazashi filled her other end with a uniquely double-headed strap-on double-ended vibrating harness that was keeping the daughter of Kasumi and Ranmaru humping, even as she was locked in a pillory keeping her in place while Watazashi and Yuan-Yen enjoyed some two-way communal screwing.

"Rose and I can't put into words how glad we are to have you back with us, 'Bell-chan," Thorn purred with contentment as she and her sister sat on either side of the naked blond Fairy-girl, playfully running their hands up and down her lush-yet-firm body.

"Oh yes," Thorn agreed, "We were afraid we'd never have another chance with you again...we've missed you so much, and it's only been a few hours."

"You don't mind if we pick up where we left off, do you?" Thorn added as she gently pinched one of Tinkerbell's nipple's, "You won't go melting through the floor and vanish out on us again, will you?"

"Ah...well..." Tinkerbell gasped, sighed then shuddered slightly, finding herself once again double-teamed by a pair of amorous versions of Watazashi, "I..I...guess I can...oh hell...why fight it? Do me, girlfriends!"

"We thought you'd never ask," Rose grinned as she two daughters of Kodachi went to work giving the Fairy-girl a reason to be thankful for her surrender.

Kinko was enjoying her own reunion with her friends Achika and Bracelet, thoroughly content to be back in the arms of the Miroku, who were intent on teaching her all there was to know about the pleasures of sex shared with other women. Meanwhile three of the Miroku male children sat off to the side and watched the action, debating whether and when to join in on the fun of these amorous ladies.

"Looks like the girls have everything well in hand," mused Tenshin as he sipped a ginseng tea and studied the activities of the girl named Watazashi.

"Think there's room to insert a dick into this Fem-Fest?" asked Shiromitsu, "Or would it be worth our trouble?"

"You don't think the girls mean to hog all the action to themselves this time?" asked Tsuyosa, "That really sucks...I'd like another crack at some of these girls, and that Yuan-Yen looks enough like Price that I could really get into doing her."

"Let's take our time and study the options," Tenshin urged, "As much as that Tinkerbell girl looks like she'd be a feast for our meat, I was warned off by Rose earlier who told me she has strong reasons to prefer girls."

"Just as well," Shiromitsu remarked, "You couldn't pry Rose and Thorn off her anyway if we used a crowbar."

"Kinko's way too young for us anyway," Tsuyosa sighed, "I found that out the hard way."

"Yeah, we heard," Tenshin sympathized, "Uncle Dan and Aunt Miko were pretty upset with you when they found out you screwed a fourteen year old girl. You know the rules as well as the rest of us, no Fem under fifteen, and only after she's been rated capable of handling basic Miroku Sexcraft techniques."

"Yeah, don't want the poor thing to get traumatized or turned off to men forever," Shiromitsu noted.

"That would be a tragedy," Tsuyosa nodded towards the winged girl, "Some lucky guy would really be missing out on a great piece of tail...ah...no pun intended."

"Chickening out on your own joke?" Tenshin smiled, "Still, I can see how any man might be tempted..."

"Excuse me, Gentlemen," Watazashi called back over her shoulder to the three boys lounging about the bar, "But if you are seriously interested in playing with us girls, perhaps it might suit you to ask around. I know that I am not usually partial to men, but if you male members of the Miroku house are as accomplished as you profess, then perhaps Yuan-Yen and I might be persuaded to see you make a suitable demonstration."

"Demonstration?" asked Shiromitsu.

"Sure," Yuan-Yen indicated Omake, "On her. We'll watch while you give her a sample of your treatment...and if we like what we see, then we'll talk business."

Tenshin, Shiromitsu and Tsuyosa exchanged mutually surprised looks, then gazed speculatively at their lushly well-endowed sister and shared a smile as Tenshin took the initiative, "Why, we'd be happy to demonstrate for your benefit, gentle ladies."

"Miroku arts are the best with either gender," Shiromitsu assured, "After all, we boys have to be able to compete with our sisters for any new talent that should come out way."

"And when we get started," Tsuyosa bragged, "There won't be a dry hole in the house."

"Kinky," Watazashi smiled, giving Tenshin a generous look-over, "And if you really do impress us, well...I wouldn't mind seeing a demonstration of that interesting pool table that converts into a rack. I have this pain in my lower back that could use some stress relief."

"And besides," Yuan-Yen cupped her breasts and molded them sensuously for the enjoyment of the men, "These could use a little workout too, if you guys don't mind a little suckling action?"

The way she arched her tone at the last caused all three male members to stand at instant attention. Watazashi grinned as she took justifiable pride in the way she and Yuan could charm the best of them, then she turned to Omake and said, "You don't mind if we let the boys play for a bit, do you, Darling?"

"Mmm?" Omake replied, "MMM-Hmmm-Hmmm-mmm?"

"Oops," Yuan-Yen said sheepishly as she pulled the artificial cock out of the mouth of the helpless brown haired beauty.

"Why should I mind?" Omake grinned, "Bring it on, Bros!"

The male trio needed no further encouragement as they went to work giving their free "live" home demonstration...

5.

Lylac Tendo Kama Sutra Saotome Ekko Daitokuji Price Tendo Tenko Masaki Kashiko Tendo Veil Morisato Kurenai Mido

As a martial artist who relied as much on cunning as on pure muscle, Lylac Tendo had always trusted her instincts to warn her of any hidden dangers that she might stumble into in her travels. As such her instincts had been sounding alarm bells all from the time that she had left Washu's lair to the encounter with the Wheel of Ecchi, right up until she stepped through the doors of this restaurant, at which point her Danger Sense had shorted out altogether, a most ominous of portention.

But this House of the Miroku read like a whole new level of danger, a danger that had more to do with how acutely vulnerable she was feeling at the moment to the subject of her sexuality. Most especially being in such a place beside Ekko was making her all too aware of the recent revelation of the underlying emotional bonds that existed beneath the veneer of their casual friendship.

To say the least, Lylac had yet to fully figure out just where she stood on the issue of a love-bond between them, but she knew that they did share emotional ties of a frank and open nature, the kind that had made the act of love they shared altogether special and unique and very deeply satisfying. She had no idea what this were mean for the future, or even if they had a future together, but knowing that Ekko thought that way about her made a great difference in everything that had gone before and ever since. Lylac knew that she cared deeply about Ekko, her best friend and longtime companion, but she was not sure if she was looking forward to a permanent commitment. The future was too open and uncertain for any such formal declaration, and the question of what Ekko herself wanted from their relationship was another issue yet to be resolved.

Yet throwing them into a place like this, a place where there was free congress between all sexes, regardless of issues such as incest and interbreeding, an extended family devoted to carnal pleasures and taking great pride in the joys of the flesh, almost an atmosphere of celebration. While this was far from a bad thing in Lylac's book, it highlighted an aspect of her current vulnerability that the purple haired Tendo had not thought to encounter so soon after their experiences on the Wheel of Ecchi. She was especially worried of what effect this place might have on Ekko's imagination.

And the last thing Ekko needed at this point was inspiration in her pursuit of Lylac. It was not that Lylac resented or especially minded that attention, but the implications of what this house provided made her feel the strong urge to cover her privates or go running for cover!

At the moment they were receiving the grand tour of the place, conducted by their recently acquainted paratime sister, Kama Sutra (now there was a name ripe with suggestions!), along with three of her sisters, each of whom was eyeing their group with unmistakably predatory interest. Lylac had not felt so much on display since her last run-in with Madam Lao and her pervert daughter, Tyger-  
Tiger. (Unless, of course, you were to count in that run-in with a Cannibal tribe on the lost "Island that Time Ignored," but Lylac was still trying to live down that whole sorry experience!)

Needless to say, the Miroku had offered to give them clothing and shelter, (and one out of two wasn't too bad odds) but what they had provided was hardly enough cloth to make a lousy T-shirt (and one that did not cover any place worth concealing). Lylac had expected a spare Cheosong at the very least (considering the number of Chinese-descended Amazons, she had thought it not an unreasonable expectation) but somehow the subject of clothing did not seem to be too much on the menu, and the way the tour was being guided further into the complex left Lylac with few illusions that this would be a "disinterested" package tour.

More alarming still, her concerns appeared to be exclusively her own province, for the others in her party hardly seemed all that concerned with the display of flesh that they were putting on for the locals, not even the normally reserved and modest Veil Morisato. Ekko was walking around almost like she owned the place (but then again, when you were as strong as a tank and had a mind like a computer there was not too much one could reasonably expect to feel threatened about, being "merely" naked not even rating a footnote). Princess Tenko of the Jurai was another chapter in surprises altogether, for she was usually a very modest sort, not at all flashy and flamboyant like her blue haired half-sister, Ryeka. Lylac, being merely human, had more to fear of strange quarters than any of these three, but still it was surprising to be considered the prude in their odd group.

At the moment Kama Sutra was explaining to them the sort of training exercises that normally went on in the interior garden area. Practice fields and level areas set next to traditional rock gardens and other settings more typical of a large Japanese estate took on a slightly more ominous context when considering the type of "martial art" these people practiced. Lylac's sensitive nostrils could detect the faint whiff of male and female body-scent only slightly concealed by the perfume of various herbal plants and flowers. Doubtless her Sentinel sister, Fragrance, would have had a field day picking out the variety of aromas, the nature of which hinted greatly of a state of near-continuous sexual arousal.

To Lylac's further surprise and chagrin, she heard Veil ask pointed questions asking for details about the sort of training that went on here, punctuated by more comments and observations from Tenko as Ekko smiled almost continuously as though forming her own opinions from the evidence on hand. Lylac had already made her own conclusions and knew that the longer they stayed in this place, the greater the odds were that she was going to wind up in some type of sexual arrangement. This suspicion was only enhanced when Kama took them to their next stop, which she (appropriately enough) referred to as the "Play Room." One look at the scene that was going on inside there and Lylac's worst suspicions were confirmed, for there was Watazashi strapped down to a pool table, held spread-  
eagled by chains that appeared from the corner "pockets" while a man held up a candle and dripped hot wax over her body. Yuan-Yen was presently keeping two other young men occupied at either end of her openings while a girl held bent down in a pillory made encouraging sounds and appeared to fervently want to get into the middle of this action. Meanwhile Tinkerbell was getting it on with a pair of "bookend" twin-like sisters, one of them with green hair, while Kinko was using a strap-on vibrator on another girl with dark blue hair, all in all looking much like a scene from a really kinky Hentai movie.

"Ah," Ekko mused, "Hospitality indeed."

"Oh my!" had voiced Veil, looking particularly wide-eyed as she saw the way Watazashi writhed under the torture of the candle, yet seemed very much to be enjoying the whole matter.

"This sort of thing is typical here?" Tenko asked, not sounding the least bit offended.

"Actually it looks like things are a bit slow at the moment," Kashiko replied, "Should we go in and liven up the party?"

"Later perhaps," Kama replied, closing the door and leading them off in another direction, "First I would like to show you to another part of the house, a place where first-time visitors can enjoy a soothing and relaxing experience so we can all recover our energies after the trials we have been through. I'm sure that will suit sister Lylac much better than jumping into the action without even so much as taking time to eat lunch together."

"Eh?" Lylac was surprised at being singled out in such a manner, though this realization was somewhat mollified by the obvious consideration of that statement.

"Ah yes," Ekko turned a thoughtful look her way, "I'm sure we all could use a momentary pause from the excitement we have been under, eh, Lylac-chan?"

The "chan" part of that statement made Lylac feel very odd, both pleasured and troubled at one and the same time, but she knew that Ekko meant well and was thinking more of Lylac's welfare than her own (if Ekko even had physical limits, Lylac was not certain what they would be, only that they would be well beyond the measure of most "normal" humans).

At any rate, the place where Kama lured them was a closed off area that had a very pleasant atmosphere, both relaxing and inviting with tones of blue that implied strongly of something highly aquatic. Indeed, there were fishtanks and the muted lighting of colored glass windows highlighting stone furnishings that were smooth and rounded in an oddly textured manner. Kama bade them to sit down on this stoneware and-much to Lylac's astonishment-she found them pleasantly comfortable to set weight upon, even to lay upon as though they were lushly padded upholstery. Nor was she the only one to evidence surprise at this discovery, Tenko and Veil being quick to point out their singular delight at sitting down to such comfort.

"Glad you like it," Price remarked with a smile, "Stone sculptures such as these are the products of our brother, Shiromitsu, who has mastered the ancient art of contour sculpting and can fashion these of either clay or stone with shapes that feel almost as comfortable as leather cushions. Feel free to lay back and test these surfaces, you'll find you can do almost anything laying down that you might do on a futon."

"Anything?" asked Veil (of all people, much to Lylac's amazement) with a tone of interested speculation.

"Oh yes," Kurenai assured them, "This is a favorite place for us to come and relax when we want a soothing atmosphere to ease the mind and sooth our tired bodies."

"It's even better when you add sound to the mixture," Kashiko noted as she went to one wall and exposed a hidden control panel, making a few adjustments that caused harmonic vibrations to fill the air, following in short order by musical notes that were both easy to the ear and-indeed-soothing to the nerve endings.

"Oh wow," Tenko sighed as she and Veil held hands together and lay back upon the stone bench that they were sharing, cozying up together with shared intimacy and a great deal of affection.

Lylac was surprised to find her own hand was suddenly filled by that of Ekko, and as she turned a questioning look towards her friend-turned-lover she found a warming sensation of a kinship that was still too strange and new to be easily trusted, and yet somehow she knew that she would not put up any resistance should things proceed as she was expecting. As Ekko urged her to lay down and share warmth, Lylac found herself nestling into the oddly comfortable alcove provided by the redhead's surprisingly soft shoulder.

Kama shared a knowing look with Price, Kurenai and Kashiko, then all three sat down on benches in couples of two, not far removed from the four newcomers (whom they hoped to make just that) and bided their time while the subtle mood-  
enhancing environment did its work and enflamed smoldering passions. It would not be long now until the fondling, nuzzling and cuddling would give way to far more vigorous pastimes, and if Lylac had suspected that this was their intention all along she gave no hint nor even showed the slightest resentment. It was nice to cuddle with Ekko and let those strange emotions within her flare to a bright flame from long smoldering embers. Before long the "worst" that she had expected would come to pass, and yet she would find no resentment within her as matters would soon progress to where anything was possible, and indeed, most likely to happen...

6.

Kodachi Kuno Kimera Suzuka Kyura Saotome Ranmaru Suzuka Tekase Suzuka Wulf Midori Botsasu Suzuka Kyura Saotome Toltiir

As much as Kodachi had wanted to stay and chat with this alternate world version of Ranma and Nabiki she knew that someone had to stay and tend to the restaurant. Having only a light staff at this period when business was light made it easy to attend to the basics, but after it was over she intended to look up these new arrivals and get in on some of the fun, and wouldn't that make this Ranma's day as sweet as her own Ranma-sama?

Intrigued as she was to know the details of the life lived by this particular Ranma, she was equally intrigued by the sharp eyed and dour-looking Nabiki, whose gaze had reminded her much of a hungry wolf keenly eyeing her mate with territorial interest, yet obviously starved for much-needed affection. Kodachi could well remember when she had felt much that way, many years ago, back during her solitary period, which many referred to as her "Crazy Time." Back then she had been alone, frustrated, neglected and ignored, prey to inner demons and a budding drug addiction that was her personal private vice, the product of her father's experiments in Black Rose extracts, coupled with the tragedy of a past that took her years with which to come to grips.

Had this Nabiki suffered as much privation in her life? Twenty years engaged to the same man, yet only once consummated? That did not bode well for what Kodachi now knew to be a good and healthy lifestyle. If so, then she had come to the right place to find the solace that she needed, for the Miroku had given Kodachi a home away from her home, and one that had healed her mind, spirit and body. Kodachi would indeed enjoy playing a part in that healing for another, especially if it gave her a window of opportunity to enjoy both this Nabiki and the equally dour-faced Ranma.

Almost of equal interest to her was getting to know the singular guest who went by the name of Watazashi. Now there was a daughter that any mother could be proud of, not that she was any less satisfied with either Rose or Thorn (her pride and joy in every sense). Watazashi was as sharp as a whip and as lean as a blade, combining the best that was in both Ranma and herself, a warrior of few peers and clearly devoted to her beloved companion, Yuan-Yen (a rather unlikely pairing of Nabiki with that annoying fool, Mousse). The stories those two were likely to tell would bring a smile to Kodachi's lips as she had always dreamed of being the dashing heroine rather than be regarded by some as a quasi-villain.

She paused in these reflections to survey the near-empty restaurant, which was currently being made ready for the night crowd, and smiled as she regarded Wulf, the Chef in residence, the green-haired son of her Ranma-sama and the were-  
woman, Yaku. He was such a good and honest boy, very attentive to the needs of the guests and a superb chef, much like Ukyo Kuonji. He could prepare a savory meal in less time than it would take another to describe it, and with him on the duty-roster, she had little to do besides circulate among the crowds while directing the other children to go about their duties. Off to one side stood Ranmaru and Botsasu, that odd pair of twins who were senior representatives of the Suzuka branch of the House of Miroku, both currently in costumes that did little more than hint as to their generously feminine attributes. They helped to lend the restaurant with an appropriately "Ninja-like" atmosphere that the patrons loved so well. Meanwhile Kimera and Tekase were performing the "floor-  
show" entertainment with a martial arts duel that was both highly ritualized and extremely arousing (and not just in an aesthetic sense as these two loved to give off flashes of their bodies in the skimpy costumes they were wearing).

All was going well, and Kodachi was satisfied that her shift was progressing nicely, when a curious feeling caused her to glance to one side, as though she were being watched by someone from a place of concealment, someone very near to where she was standing, which set her martial arts instincts to full arousal. She scanned the thin crowd of patrons and well wishers but saw nothing unusual or out of place in the setting, yet still the feeling persisted, causing her to lower her sight somewhat as she turned suddenly to the left, guided by intuition more than conscious thought, and found herself meeting the gaze of...

A small furry animal whose eyes held an intelligence that was well beyond human?

At first she had thought it was a mouse that she had spotted, but then it seemed more like a cat, then like a rabbit, then like a cross between a cat and a rabbit, and suddenly more like a monkey, right before it turned and scurried away, heading towards the kitchens, at which point Kodachi decided to follow.

"Is something wrong?" Ranmaru asked as she passed him on the way.

"I don't know," Kodachi replied, "Look after things for me, would you? I'll only be a moment."

She left the main dining area and was about to enter the kitchens themselves when a pleasantly male voice hailed her with a sly, "Never thought you'd ever turn out to be the type to work in a restaurant."

"Eh?" Kodachi turned to find a man standing beside her, a very odd looking man whose hair was long and half-black, half white, "Who...?""

"Names can be such deceiving things, Little 'Sword-Belt,'" the man sounded teasing, "I was just stopping by to see how a friend of the family was doing...and considering what sort of place this is, I don't even have to guess what's going on back there."

Kodachi frowned at the perceived mockery of her given name and said, "You have a sense most unusual about you. Are you a hostile spirit seeking mischief within these walls?"

"Mischief is my specialty," the man inclined his head, "But I mean no hostile intentions, if that is what you are implying."

"Then what business do you have, if I may be so bold as to ask?" Kodachi said a bit stiffly.

"My business is observation," he smiled, "I must say, though, that Timeline has certainly worked out a lot better than I would ever have anticipated. I don't normally favor Hentai-inspired worlds, but I suppose one could do a lot worse than combining genres like Ranma with La Blue Girl."

"La Blue Girl?" Kodachi blinked, "You mean Miko-sama?"

"Good deduction," the odd man nodded, "You interest me, which is not something that I an say about many of your alternate versions. A child of wealth and privilege who deliberately chose to make herself a virtual servant to a Princess. I'd like to see more of this place you call your home, if you don't mind very much. Would you do me the courtesy of playing my tour guide?"

"I..." Kodachi was about to upbraid the man for his presumption, but something in his eyes stopped her so that she found herself agreeing to play the hostess. She did, however, remember to ask the question, "What shall I call you then, stranger?"

"Call me Toltiir," he replied, "I'm an...associate of the Time Patrol Ranma and Nabiki."

"Ah...just so," Kodachi replied, turning to lead the way into the building while wondering just what sort of a fox she was letting into the "henhouse..."

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Circumcisions at a Discount: shadowmane

Thus ends the preliminaries, stay tuned for "Round Two" as things heat up around Ranma and Nabiki with a "Bridal Shower" that the two of them will never forget, while Ranko and Silver get some coaching from Tsuyori in how to make the most of their similarities/contrasts, and Toltiir pays his respects to both Shikima and the Miroku. Be with us next time for: "Moon Over My Auntie," or "The Minimum Wages of Sin." Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . or it's mirror site at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	22. Chapter 22

RanSquaresSS3

Realities Squared,

A Night of Delights

By Jim Robert Bader

(Loosely Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi,  
with characters and concepts supplied by Toshio Maeda and my fellow Fanfic writers Nicole Manders and D.B. Sommers)

Part Two.

Continuum #57821964

Roll Call:

Ranma Saotome -38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki -38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage to Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo -38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir -Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Ranko Saotome -16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo -16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome -17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki -16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi -16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome -17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji -14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Lylac Tendo -17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji -16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki -17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato -16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome -17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi From Continuum #17046289 Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome -18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox

HOUSE MIROKU

Ranma Saotome Akane Tendo Yaku Midori Fubuki Mido Ukyo Saotome Nabiki Tendo Miyu Mido Kodachi Kuno Miko Mido Kasumi Tendo Botsasu Suzuka Ryoga Hibiki Dan Suzuka Shampoo Tendo Ranmaru Suzuka Akari Hibiki

Wulf Midori -17, green haired son of Yaku Midori and Ranma Shikari Mido -17, purple haired daughter of Akane and Miko Kitten Saotome -17, cherry pink haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma Tsuyosa Hibiki -17, black haired son of Akane and Ryoga Omake Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Ranmaru Shibari Tendo -16, purple haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Dan Koi Mido -16, indigo haired daughter of Miko Mido and Dan Shiromitsu Suzuka -16, silver haired son of Ukyo and Dan Tenshin Saotome -16, brown haired son of Fubuki and Ranma Bukotei Mido -16, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Ranma Thorn Saotome -16, green haired daughter of Kodachi and Yaku Midori Rose Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Kodachi and Ranma Achika Hibiki -16, black haired daughter of Botsasu and Ryoga Bonbori Tendo -15, purple haired daughter of Shampoo and Akane Sakura Kuonji -15, silver haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Price Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Tendo and Fubuki Kashiko Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Fubuki Kurenai Mido -15, blue haired daughter of Yaku and Miko Kimera Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Dan Kyura Saotome -14, black haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Ranma Tekase Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Botsasu and Ranmaru Bracelet Saotome -14, indigo haired daughter of Shampoo and Ukyo

7.

The Bachelor Party

Ranma Saotome (TC) Ranma Saotome (M) Miko Mido Ryoga Saotome (TC) Ryoga Hibiki (M) Miyu Mido Dan Suzuka Yaku Midori Ranmaru Suzuka Botsasu Suzuka

"I don't know about this..." Ranma reluctantly admitted as he found himself being attended to by three of the Miroku women.

"Y'know, Bro?" the other Ranma smirked as he stood off to the side watching these women rub him down with body oils and lotions that made his hard and battle-scarred frame glisten like a bronzed statue, well-defined and entirely manly, "I think you protest too much. Don't be such a wimp, let the ladies have some fun getting your ready for the ceremony."

"Ceremony?" Ryoga (TC) responded, "Are you really sure about this?"

"Sure thing, Brother," Ryoga (M) replied, "The ladies know what they're doing."

"After all," said Miko, the Clan lady of the house (the only woman standing off to the side and not presently playing her hands over his body), "My sisters do this sort of thing with our Ranma-kun all of the time on a regular basis."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Ranma winced slightly as he felt delicate hands slide up into areas that were more intimate than anticipated, "Hey!"

"Don't worry, Ranma-kun," the greened haired, large-breasted beauty named Yaku smiled lasciviously from where she was crouched down on her knees, hands rubbing in oils along the cheeks of his hindquarters, "We're professionals at this sort of thing. We'll have you up and ready in no time to meet our sweet Nabiki-  
chan...even if she is your version."

"Up?" Ranma (TC) said with increasing nervousness, "Hey-what?"

"Don't worry," assured Miyu, adoptive sister to Miko, as she lathered oil to his balls and his now-stiffening manhood, "We're just being thorough...no harm to this, and you want it to slide into your Nabiki-chan without too much undue friction, correct?"

"Don't be a wimp, Saotome," said Dan Suzuka, the co-ruler of the Clan-house, "We're all friends within these walls and we share everything together. Our wives are very talented, you should be grateful to be the recipient of their special sort of attention."

"Perhaps he isn't quite the man our Ranma is," said the hermaphrodite, Ranmaru, remarked, confusing the heck out of Ranma as he was supposed to be a guy but boasted a pair of remarkably large breasts (nearly as large as the ones on the Were-woman, Yaku), "Twenty years lack of use may have rendered his equipment defective."

"It's not that!" Ranma (TC) growled, before staring in round-eyed horror as he felt a tongue caress the smoothness of his shaft, "HEY, QUIT THAT!"

"Now don't be stingy, Ranma-kun," said a lustful Botsasu (another incredibly large-breasted beauty of the Miroku House, and Ranmaru's sister), "We just want you to be ready...in all senses of the word...for when you spend time alone with your Nabiki."

"Relax and go with it, Bro," Ranma (M) softly chuckled, "It don't pay to tell the ladies you're off-limits, they just take that as a challenge."

"Besides," Ryoga (M) added, "They know just how far to take things so as not to infringe on Marital rights. They'll get you ready but they won't bring you off because they know you have to save your energies for the honeymoon."

"And besides," Dan grinned, "They want to compare you to the Ranma they know so well on an intimate level. So far they do not appear to be too badly disappointed."

"HEY!" both versions of Ranma said at once, before the Time Cop version glanced down in alarm when Botsasu not only started licking his shaft but taking the ball end into her mouth altogether.

"Oh, did we forget to mention that the body-oils are edible?" Miyu asked as she and Yaku began licking around Ranma's hips and testicle region.

"You girls better stop that," Ryoga (TC) warned, "Nabiki is an awfully jealous type, and if she finds out you took liberties with her iinazuke..."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much on that end," Ranmaru said smugly, "If I know our women, they'll be making sure that his Nabiki will be just as ready for her end of the bargain."

"NANI?" Ranma (TC) exclaimed, though whether it was in response to this statement or the fact that Botsasu was now sliding him down her throat like a sausage was anyone's guess as the formidable Time Agent rolled up his eyes and felt his knees turn into water...

8.

The Bachelorette Party!

Nabiki Tendo (TC) Kasumi Tendo Ukyo Saotome Ryonami (TC)  
Nabiki Tendo (M) Akane Tendo Akari Hibiki (M)  
Fubuki Mido Shampoo Tendo Akari Hibiki (TC)

"I REALLY don't know about this!" Nabiki was even then exclaiming as she found herself at the center of attention with her counterpart, the Miroku versions of Kasumi, Shampoo and Akane, and even the curious blonde woman named Fubuki all attending to her with eager hands quite liberally applying massage oils to her body.

"Relax and don't complain so much, Sis," the Nabiki of this Miroku house replied eagerly, "Just relax and enjoy this. It's all for the best in your marriage, believe me about that!"

"Oh yes," Kasumi said with a leer that was a startling contrast with the Kasumi she knew and loved so well, "We're doing this for your benefit, Imoutochan, so just relax and let us do our part."

"Yeah, Sis," Akane grinned just as wickedly as she took great sport in working her hands over Nabiki's stiffening bosoms, "You need to loosen up and get with the program. In a little while you'll be walking down the aisles with Ranma and you definitely don't want to get cold feet after almost twenty years of waiting."

"You listen to your sister, Nabiki-chan," said a Shampoo who was presently on her knees and using both tongue and hands to spread Nabiki's thighs so that she had trouble standing up altogether, "This is very important to a good and happy marriage."

"What, is this some kind of secret Amazon ritual or something?" Nabiki (TC) gasped, her voice raising and falling by an octave as sensations of an altogether pleasurable nature began playing across her nervous system.

"'Fraid not, Sugar," Ukyo grinned, "We trained Shampoo in the Miroku arts and she's very good at Sexcraft, combining techniques of her own people with those passed down in the Mido family for generations."

"Sexcraft?" Nabiki gasped, "Just what is this all about? I sense the blood of demons of lust and desire in you, Kuonji..."

"Saotome," Ukyo corrected, "Here I'm Ranchan's wife, while your counterpart is the wife of my dear clan-sister, Fubuki."

"That's right, Sugar," Fubuki grinned, "And if you want to hear the details from the mouth of my wife herself, just ask her, right Nabiki-chan?"

"Oh yes," Nabiki (M) smiled as she slid her hands down her counterpart's body and rested a hand over the brown bush that nestled between her creamy thighs, "By the way...did I happen to mention that I like the really cute job somebody did down there? Not many girls have their bush trimmed into a heart shape pattern. I approve, of course, in fact...I think this calls for a closer inspection, don't you, Shampoo-chan?"

"Oh yes," the purple haired Amazon replied as she slid into position, moving her mouth to begin licking the space of Nabiki's inner thighs and working her way further in towards that moistened area that housed her most precious port of access.

"HEY!" Nabiki protested.

"Don't worry, Sis," Akane said, "She won't bring you off, just get you worked up nicely into the mood, know what I mean?"

"Oh yes," Kasumi said with enthusiasm, "Just relax and enjoy the experience, Imoutochan, it's for the success of your happy marriage."

"This is supposed to make me more successful in my MARRIAGE?" Nabiki's voice arched in tone as she found Shampoo's soft tongue very skilled and accurate in the way it found and exposed the nub of her warmest treasure."

"Hey, it worked for us," Fubuki replied as she slipped a hand around and caressed one of Nabiki's (TC) bosoms, flipping a finger around the nipple to stimulate a MOST INTERESTING reaction!

"Yeah," Nabiki (M) agreed as she slipped a hand around Fubuki's waist and began to caress the exposed thigh area of the Blonde's exposed muff, "Don't knock success. Miroku arts have hundreds of years of practice and refinement behind them, and they've been training girls like us to be accomplished lovers and sex partners for as many years and generations."

"And that is SUPPOSED to REASSURE ME?" Nabiki's voice arched as her hips bucked in response to the combined efforts of Shampoo, Fubuki and both of her amorous sisters.

"Go with the flow, Nabs," Ukyo grinned, "I guarantee when we're done with you, you'll be more than ready for Ranchan."

"Did somebody mention the big bad Saotome?" yet another voice called out as several new faces appeared at the sliding doorway to the room they were currently within, "Boss, are you in here-OH MY!"

"Oh wow!" said a very familiar voice beside the first one, "Did we come at a really bad time...or a good one?"

"Huh?" Akari (M) turned around and said (at the same time as one of the newcomers), "HEY! YOU LOOK JUST LIKE ME!"

"Oboy," Ryonami said with a start, "Akari's in stereo? That's one for the books!"

"Ryo-chan?" Nabiki (TC) started, "What are you doing here?"

"Are you kidding, Boss?" Ryonami responded, "When I got the word that you and the big guy were finally gonna do it-ah...that is what you're here for, right? I mean...if this is a Bachelorette party and not just some really ultra-kinky resort...I mean, I can work with that if it is..."

"So you're Ryonami," Ukyo smiled, "Nabiki's old friend from her days back in High School. Looks to me like you grew up pretty nice, Sugar."

"Ah...thanks," Ryonami blinked as she took in a room full of nude and semi-nude women, "Kuonji-san? Wow...I almost didn't recognize you in that kimono for a minute there...I mean...nice hair ribbon and all that, but..."

"You're babbling, Kid," Ukyo smiled as she padded up to cup Ryonami's face, "But I think you look kinda cute that way. So...you're from Nab-chan's world, eh? Wanna come in and have some fun getting your friend ready for her impending nuptials?"

"Would I?" Ryonami blinked, then grinned, "YOU BET! Just let me get out of these clothes and I'll join you guys!"

"Really?" Akari (TC) blinked, then grinned, "Hey that sounds like fun! Count me in!"

"By all means, come in and join the party, sister," Akari (M) grinned back, waving a hand to indicate the many hands currently at play around the Time Cop Nabiki.

"NANI...?" Nabiki (TC) gasped, sensing that she was about to become embroiled in the midst of something very free-flowing...

9.

Red Versus Silver (Round One)

Ranko Saotome Lamyra Saotome Kitten Saotome Silver Saotome Tsuyori Saotome Sakura Kuonji Akira Tendo Bukotei Mido

Akira could not believe what was happening here, let alone that he was taking part in these affairs (albeit as an "interested observer") sitting on a bench with two other women who were "stocking his meat" (as they affectionately put it) while Tsuyori conducted affairs between Silver and Ranko, while off to one side the girl named Kitten was putting some serious moves on an all-too-willing Lamyra, showing off Miroku Ninja "Sexcraft" with an energy and enthusiasm that was nothing short of infectious!

Ranko was facing off with Silver, both sitting down with legs folded under them on the padded floor with hands clasped together, slowly working them together while Tsuyori gently gave them little "pointers" in how to coordinate their movements. Watching the redhead and the platinum-haired girl making eye-contact gave Akira a sense of a serious connection being established. The two paratime sisters-having only met a mere matter of hours ago-were staring at each other with a kind of fascinated intensity that sent serious waves of smoldering sensuality throughout the chamber. It was all Akira could do just watching them not to come on the spot (ESPECIALLY with Sakura and Bukotei lavishing so much attention to his "man-meat").

It was not that Akira minded having two beautiful and highly sexed women play their hands over his rod, (especially since they seemed to know exactly what they were doing!) but he was not too comfortable about them working him over in full view of the usually overprotective Silver. Normally the mere thought of a girl approaching the tall young man would have been enough to send his nominal "girlfriend" into a towering rage, but Silver had tacitly accepted the situation after Tsuyori assured him that her sisters would merely be "keeping his motor running." That freed up the bulk of her attention to devote towards Ranko, especially after the other girl had expressed her own interest in the form of a challenge.

Memories too fresh to be wholly banished caused Akira to wonder and recall how things had progressed to this most peculiar situation. The first that he and Silver had even known about the existence of this Ranko was when she showed up virtually on their doorstep in the company of other para-dimensionally displaced teenagers, several of whom also bore the name of Saotome. Silver had been instantly intrigued (Akira well knew how the cocky girl was always drawn to the new and original like a magpie to shiny objects) and had even willingly volunteered to come along on Ranko's quest, which led them (after their first stop at the House of the Miroku) to the world ravaged like something out of Urotsukidoji. There they had participated in the strange device-both technological and magic-called the "Wheel of Ecchi," and Akira had found himself roped into that operation, compelled to wear an uncomfortable harness while making love to a bound and helpless Ranko.

That had not set well at all with Silver, and the first chance she got to "pay" Ranko back she tacked the redhead to the ground and attempted to light a fire by grinding their pelvises together. "Dry-Humping" Ranko, it seems, was but a prelude to what was happening now as Akira stared in open wonder at the two girls moving hands together while moving their bodies closer together. There was obviously something more at work here than Silver's usual competitive streak, the way she seemed to smolder with lustful intentions as she eyed Ranko's nude body, while Ranko eyed her back with an equal hunger that was clearly implicit yet understated in her own expression. Akira could not help but be struck by the stark similarities of the two girls in build and facial type, even the size of their breasts coming close to matching (though to be fair, Silver did seem to have a slight advantage in that department), and the rest of them was a vast inventory of "twinned" body-parts, as though (with the exception of hair color and style) one were cast in the exact same mold as the other.

Akira was not exactly sure of what he felt as he studied these two recent acquaintances, one his dearly beloved friend from childhood, the other a stranger with a haunted past, but he knew that he did feel something stirring within him (and not just that tingling that was helping to keep his manhood as rigid as a bar of iron!) and he found he could not look away as matters progressed of their own to the next level of arousal.

It began when Silver and Ranko unclasped their hands and then began to move their fingers up and down each others arms, slowly traversing downward until they reached shoulder level, and then those fingers found their way up smoothly turned collar bones and necklines, sliding up to cheek level where they began to feel each other's face, and then Silver placed a finger in Ranko's mouth as the latter flicked her tongue against it, then sucked down on that finger as Silver smiled and began to slide it in and out of that oral entrance.

Ranko responded by moving her hands down from Silver's face to shoulder level, so Silver complied by moving her hands down to Ranko's upper-chest, and without waiting around about it she cupped both breasts and fondled them, molding them with her hands as though testing the ripeness of a pair of grapefruit. Ranko was only a little bit behind her in following this example, and then both girls spent several moments exploring and kneading one another's "chest bulbs" until Silver flicked her fingers over one nipple and caused Ranko to gasp, which encouraged the platinum-haired Saotome to do the same with the other.

"Oh yes," Bukotei remarked with a lascivious grin, "Those two have a natural aptitude for this sort of thing..."

"I'd say they were pretty hot for each other," Sakura smiled, "Lust at first sight. Oneechan sure knows how to pair them."

Akira said nothing for himself, but a slight gasp escaped him when Bukotei bent her head down and she began to lick the top of his shaft, even as Sakura slid to the floor and began to pay attention to his testicles, providing adequate distraction that Akira momentarily forgot about the amorous activities of Silver and Ranko.

Ranko made a startling revelation in that moment: A.)-There really was a Heaven, and B.)-she was in it! That, at least, was how she choose to regard having Silver's hands caress her body as she played her own hands over the smoothly soft padding that concealed the steel-strong muscles of the other girl. She was enormously turned on by Silver, a girl who had even more in the way of "exotic looks" than either Watazashi or Yuan-Yen. Being still a relative newcomer in the art of pleasuring another woman, she was finding it very easy to warm up to the sort of games that they were planning. This Silver was an incredibly beautiful and responsive creature, almost raw in the intensity of her passions and incredibly responsive. It was all Ranko could do to not push the other girl down so she could provide her with cunnalingus, the attraction she felt was like magnetism that made her yearn to discover just how far she could go with her prospective "lover."

Silver was equally amazed that she was enjoying doing this as a girl rather than in her guy form. Though she preferred to call herself "devoutly Hetero," the truth was that she had always found other women attractive on some level that was understated. The caress of Ranko's skin within her hands gave her such unexpectedly tender feelings that it called seriously into question Silver's often-voiced insistence that she was not after a girlfriend but was strictly and solely interested in consummating a relationship with her half-brother, Akira.

She thought of other girls whom she had known and bedded (in her "guy" form, naturally), most particularly Gel Kuno and Yuriko Kuonji. Girls were naturally attracted to Silver's male form as he was (in her own humble opinion) "A mouth-  
watering Mega-Stud," and letting them pursue a relationship with him had been as easy as taking candy from the proverbial baby. With Gel it had been a really weird experience due to the girl's...flexibility and penchant to use ribbons to tie Silver-kun down to a bed. Yuriko was a far more complex matter...owing largely to the fact that Silver had feelings there of an altogether different nature. It had been just that one time, and possibly a mistake, and they were not in full possession of their wits at the time (another one of Gel's potions gone sour), but Silver could not honestly say that she regretted the encounter, even if Yuriko had seemed to resent her about it later.

In truth Silver had often wondered about her own feelings towards Yuriko, a really nice girl for all that she had a rebellious streak that far-surpassed Silver's. Yuriko did not always get along well with her mother, Ukyo Kuonji, or even her biological "father" (Ukyo's blonde haired "Cheerleader" wife, Ai Konjou, thanks to the application of some temporary "Nanniichuan" water), who often sided with Ukyo where it came to restrictions imposed on their daughter. Yuriko was a good friend while growing up who had turned very strange and resentful towards Silver for reasons that might have something to do with Silver's male aspect. Silver worried if sex between them might have caused a permanent rift to their friendship, (because it probably implied that Yuriko was a little too much like her parents for her liking) because there were not that many people whom she felt truly comfortable being around. Besides, Yuriko had been (in Silver's estimation) a "really hot piece of tail," and she would have eagerly welcomed another chance to screw her.

There were other girls whom Silver had taken to bed in her male form, but their names hardly mattered as none of them had meant as much to her as Akira (or even Yuriko for that matter). Meaningless sex, purely for sport and recreation, not serious enough to count in her book, and yet enough to give "him" quite a reputation in their school as a "Stud-Muffin" with energy to spare. Silver did not even mind the resentment that was paid to "him" by other male classmates, she only knew that sex was fun and she didn't see why she should deny herself some casual indulgence, just as long as she took precautions to avoid STDs (Sexually Transmissible Disease) and pregnancy (though he thought himself well covered there as an advantage of his "curse" was that he had to stay in male form for more than 24 hours before he could generate enough semen to be considered fertile). The only thing that would have worried her was if her sexual activities should come to the attention of her parents, at which point she would have to do some "explaining..."

But this Ranko was in a different class of female altogether...something new, wild and totally different from the other girls of Silver's acquaintance. Looking at her was almost like looking into a mirror, but the precocious redhead had an aching need-almost a vulnerability-to be loved and cared for that appealed to Silver on some fundamental level. This Ranko was very "fuckable," (a term Silver had coined for girls who had such a need for affection) and just as certainly, Silver found that she had an aching need to screw her!

"That's very good," Tsuyori complimented, "Now Ranko...lay on the floor and let Silver explore you."

"Explore me?" Ranko found the very sound of that thrilled her, so she laid down as instructed, which prompted Silver to straddle over her without releasing her hold on the redhead's anatomy. Ranko found herself on her back with Silver's face perched over hers by a space of less than a handswidth, and the platinum-  
haired girl was leering at her with a very cat-like expression, making Ranko feel like a red-breasted canary.

"Now," Tsuyori encouraged, "Lower your bush to touch hers and begin to grind your loins together.

Silver was already ready and willing to comply with this request, and her grin grew even deeper as she used her knees to brace herself, then lowered her crotch until it was pressing against Ranko's and slowly began to slide her silvery mound up and down the crimson fur of her companion.

Ranko gasped and arched her back, supporting Silver's hands as the other girl rested part of her weight on the redhead. Silver moved her pelvis up and down in slow and steady motions that sent groans of disbelief and amazement throughout Ranko, who had her legs spread wide to accommodate the other girl as Silver gently rode her with steadily increasing momentum.

"You see?" Tsuyori smiled, "You don't need your male halves for this part. A woman is perfectly equipped to please another woman, just so long as it is the right woman you make love to. At this phase you are simply building on your lust and attraction but soon you will know instinctively what it takes to pleasure your partner, and you can do much more energetic techniques than this to bring her off with total enjoyment."

"Oh yeah," Silver enthused as she really began to get into mounting the redhead and grinding their loins until they felt themselves lubricate one another's unfolding labia, and then the sparks each felt nearly caused them to separate, but Tsuyori bade that they continue.

"Don't stop now," she urged, "Can you feel it now? A part of you is reaching out to her, just as she is reaching out to receive you. Does it feel as though your pink meat is being received by her clamshell? Does it spark your interest and enflame the lust within you?"

"OH YEAH!" Silver cried out as she arched her own back without letting up on the pressure, especially as she was feeling the crest of a wave that was building up inside her.

"Feels nice, doesn't it, Ranko-chan?" Tsuyori smiled, "You want Silver-chan to make you come. Does it feel like she's kissing you with her loins? Your lips are meeting and I can hear your clits as they gently grind together."

"OHYEAHHH!" Ranko cried out, and then she came explosively, feeling as though a wave was crashing down upon her body, washing her in hot and gold drafts that made her skin flush and her body sing with electric fire. Her hands squeezed Silver's breasts even as Silver pinched her nipples as they both arched their backs together with a wetness in their loins that seemed to splash together.

"Ah, now ease back a bit and take a moment to catch your breath," Tsuyori urged, "Slow your breathing and your pelvic thrusts, my sisters, and then we can move on to the next step of this encounter."

"Oooooooommmaaannnn!" Silver breathed, "That...that was really something!"

"No kidding..." Ranko was breathing harder than if she had just run ten miles flat out, "Didn't know...you could do that...with a girl...without having a dick..."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Silver grinned, "But y'know something, Red? I'm ready to go right back at it again."

"Me too," Ranko leered back, "Only this time I wanna be the one doing the riding."

"Maybe next time," Tsuyori smiled, glancing at Silver's round bottom then running her hand along the edge and inserting a finger up Silver's now well-  
lubricated snatch and coming away with a finger coated in glistening moisture, "What's this? Oh my...it seems you both got yourselves dirty. Well, there is one way to deal with that. Move around, Sister, and assume the Sixty-Nine position."

"The...sixty nine position?" Ranko blinked her eyes, "What...?"

"I know what she means," Silver smiled from ear to ear and immediately started crawling around over Ranko until they were positioned with Silver's crotch over Ranko's face, and Ranko's crotch just below the level of Silver's hungry mouth.

"Oh," Ranko said with round-eyes, understanding now what was expected of her as Silver lowered her moistened pink flesh onto her face, just as Silver buried her face into the wide-exposed pink flesh of the redhead's glistening vulva.

About this point Akira was certain he was going to blow his wad down the windpipe of the girl currently giving him a blow job, but Bukotei did something to the nerves around the base of his shaft that kept him hard and rigid but did not allow him to make a cum-shot. Sakura, meanwhile, was demonstrating that it was not just women who could be delighted by having their nipples be suckled and fondled, and this eye-widening revelation was only slightly less amazing than the floor-show of Ranko and Silver, while off in the corner the energetic pair of Kitten and Lamyra were going at it like a pair of wildcats in heat (and was it his imagination or did it seem as though there were appendages probing all three of Kitten's openings? Given that they were on the edge of his peripheral vision he could not be too certain...).

Ranko had been hesitant for only a few seconds before beginning to lick Silver's pussy, but the scent proved remarkably aromatic and the flavor on her tongue was so good that she just had to sample more and more of the oddly mixed flavor. It seemed as though there were a subtle difference in two different types of juice that her tongue dipped into, and then it came to her with a start that she was tasting her own juices mingled with those of the platinum-haired martial artist. The thought of the two of them creating such a flavor together sent a new kind of thrill down Ranko's spine and caused her to begin digging in with her tongue in hopes of getting more of that delicious juice in her mouth. At the same time that she did this she was all but jumping with pleasure as Silver ate out her own loins, creating a sucking sensation with a tongue that just sent shivers throughout her body.

Silver was more than pleased to find Ranko returning her efforts with such enthusiasm, even as she was lapping up the cum that covered the crimson fur beneath her. It was such a wonderful thing to be sharing these sensations with a girl who was in so many ways just like her, increasing the sense of intimacy and fellowship that they already were sharing, just as Silver was warming up to the challenge of bringing the other girl off once again before Ranko managed to force her to climax.

Tsuyori smiled herself in obvious relish, both pleased and impressed with her newfound sisters who were demonstrating such...enthusiasm and potential. It was really quite amazing the way Silver and Ranko were getting turned on by one another, as if the enjoyment of one was reflected in the delight shared by the other.

Akira was amazed that he had not blown his wad already as he saw the "competition" between Silver and Ranko ratcheted up to a more audible level. The sounds of happy and contented slurping was accompanied by the groans of both girls that sounded s though it had come from the soundtrack of a porn movie. It would have taken superhuman will not to lose it at this point, but something the Miroku girls attending to him had done was keeping him hard and erect without letting him climax, and the more turned on he got the greater the strain he felt, and the need for some kind of a release was building at a rate that was nearly exponential!

Ranko realized that she was in danger of "losing" the contest that had implicitly grown between herself and her "opponent," for Silver was quite obviously treating this like any other kind of challenge match and seeking to overwhelm Ranko's defenses by means of some rather deviously clever tongue-  
lashing techniques (and just where she had learned to do that to a woman's Clitoris, Ranko had no idea whatsoever!). Not being one to shy from rising to a challenge, however, Ranko was not yet about to yield to even the sweet enticements of a promised "climax to remember." She did not intend for Silver to have the edge with her "tongue-thrashing," so she decided to get down and serious, thrusting her tongue in deep and lapping away at the sweet vulva of her companion. Silver reacted to this and came back again with even more frantic and gyrating tongue-motions, increasing her pace until Ranko felt the walls of her hot, pink love canal began to quiver and vibrate. Ranko almost lost it as the urge to cum nearly overwhelmed all other needs, and she rolled back her eyes to gasp a moment for breath as she felt herself cresting near to the edge of ONE MOTHER OF AN EXPLOSION!

A stray thought penetrated the pink haze that was driving her beyond self-  
awareness as she wondered briefly if there was such a thing as an "Amaguriken Tongue," so fast was Silver lapping her to the some new level of sexual excitement never previously even suspected. That thought triggered something in the back of Ranko's mind that caused her to dive back into the hot snatch of her "competitor," and this time she pushed herself to thrust that tongue as deep as her muscles and jaw would allow, sucking down to provide extra drawing power until she was able to flick the tip in a "downward" angle that touched a special nerve cluster hidden beyond normal attainment, and a single flick against this was enough to turn the tables around completely, causing Silver to shudder violently and climax. The very unexpected force of that detonation caused both girls to feel the force of its reverberation.

Silver was caught completely off-guard as her body convulsed and shook with the force of her "second cumming," and her mind went momentarily white as the sound of crashing waves came roaring down at her, and without warning she felt her loins got wet as hot jism spurted into Ranko's mouth, almost choking the redhead but for an automatic (almost reflexive) way in which she closed off her windpipe and took the jism in with one long swallow. Ranko drank in Silver's juice even as the other girl exhaled into her own exposed vagina, which was exactly the stimulation that Ranko needed to lost all remaining control and gush into Silver's mouth like an exploding geyser!

To Akira it sounded as though Silver had been mortally wounded from the cry she uttered at the moment of her fulfillment, but then Ranko made sounds of muffled delight that made it seem as though she were being smothered by a pillow. Silver's body shook and her back arched noticeably before her face fell down and covered Ranko's bush with her face, and then Silver made other noises that sounded like a half gasp, have groan of delight, followed by some heavy slurping that seemed as much automatic as it was genuinely heartfelt. It didn't last long, though, for a moment later Silver strength deserted her and she flopped down on top of Ranko, panting fiercely as though both girls were out of breath and near to exhaustion. Without a word Silver flopped down on her side and lay on the floor staring up at the ceiling while Ranko shut her eyes and spent the next fully minute in heavy, deep breathing.

Tsuyori raised an eyebrow as she watched her two budding proteges wheeled down from their joint emotional highs, impressed beyond words that a pair of relative amateurs could be putting on such an impressive and energetic performance. It spoke volumes of their potential, but from the sound of things it seemed as if Ranko had pulled a last-minute coup that had reversed the tide of affairs decisively in her favor...and flavor (if her finely tuned hearing and smell were to be trusted as the sweet tang of feminine jism filled the air, turning Tsuyori on like there was no tomorrow!). She decided then and there to keep a closer watch on these two for signs that they might have an even more intuitive grasp of basic sexual techniques than had been previously suspected.

"Ooowow..." Silver gasped after a long pause in which both girls sought to recover their lost strength, "What the heck did you do down there? Felt like your tongue grew a foot or something..."

"Or something," Ranko gasped as she finally cleared her mouth of silvery bush and could breathe more easy, "Almost cracked my jaw pulling that off...but it was worth it!"

"I'll say," Silver replied with enthusiasm as she turned a glance towards Ranko, "I thought I had you good there, but you pulled that off at the last second and I just lost it!"

"Meaning I won," Ranko grinned back like the proverbial cat that had just eaten the canary, "In both senses of the word. Y'know something? You taste great!"

"Thanks," Silver found herself smiling in actual pleasure at the compliment, but then she said, "I mean...of course...and hey, you're not half bad yourself. Kinda like strawberries and cream, if you know what I mean."

Tsuyori saw the grins of both young women and smiled herself at their shared sensuality and mutual enjoyment. There was something flowering here, a kind of communal spirit of lust and attraction that was only intensifying with their sharing of intimacies, unlike some attractions she knew that tended to wane once the initial glow of desire was expended. These two shared a mutual competitive streak that had turned a simple training exercise into a contest of one-  
upsmanship that caused them both to push themselves beyond their normal limits and capacity for enjoyment. Most first-time lovers tended to be hesitant and shy about their mutual exploration, but these two were aggressive in expressing their physical prowess, and perhaps it was their very inexperience that left them open to new sensations, much less jaded and casual in their demonstrations than to what well-trained Miroku sisters were routinely accustomed. That gave her an inspiration as she decided on where to go in the next level of their training.

Meanwhile the two girls working Akira over were giving the young man plenty of reason to feel distracted, and his rod was now hard enough that it could have been used to hammer nails. Tsuyori knew that her sisters would keep him on edge for a while longer while showing him other means by which to direct his sexual frustration. Already Akira was responding in kind with hands that explored their sensuous bodies with more boldness and freedom than had been evident earlier in the day, and with a little more coaching he would make a fine sexual partner for any woman who was fortunate enough to claim him.

Off to one side another tongue-fest was in full operation as Lamyra took Kitten with a vengeance and had the pink haired girl cried out in sounds that was well past the point of ecstasy to the blissful realm of total elation. The green-  
haired girl was obviously delighting in licking every inch of her playmate, just as Kitten was making noises worthy of her namesake, just as obviously approving of the treatment that she was receiving. (But was Tsuyori imagining things or did it actually seem as though near-invisible tendrils were playing about her sister's body?)

Still, the game was afoot and Tsuyori was only just starting to have fun with her new playmates, so she would allow the girls their time to recover, then have Silver and Ranko go at it again, fully confident that their competitive spirits would urge them to continue to perform with much of the energy that she had already seen them demonstrate. With just a little encouragement she would have them eating out of each other's laps once again (among other features), and then she would have her own measure of "good-clean-fun" before finally rewarding Akira's tormented patience by having him fulfill his own needs by releasing his load in the party with whom he was meant to copulate, and then...well...that would be entirely up to the parties in question, she thought with a leer as she silently thanked the Powers that be for the chance to indulge in such pleasures with two such willing and dynamic houseguests.

It was times such as these that it was truly good to be born a Miroku...

10.

Mix and Match

Kodachi Kuno -Miroku House Concubine-wife of Ranma Toltiir -Elder God of Mischief

Tinkerbell Tendo Omake Tendo Tsuyosa Hibiki Watazashi Saotome Rose Saotome Shiromitsu Suzuka Yuan-Yen Tendo Thorn Saotome Tenshin Saotome Kinko Kuonji Achika Hibiki Bracelet Saotome

Rinse Saotome Tenko Masaki Shikari Mido Bonbori Tendo Tachi Kuno Atari Moroboshi Shibari Tendo Koi Mido

Lylac Tendo Tenko Masaki Kashiko Tendo Ekko Daitokuji Veil Morisato Kurenai Mido Kama Sutra Saotome Price Tendo

"...And here," Kodachi was explaining to her odd companion, "...Is what we like to call our communal playroom, where young and old alike come to relax and indulge in life's simple pleasures, as you can see by our children, who appear to be enjoying themselves at the moment...Oh my!"

"Oh my?" Toltir cocked a salt-and-pepper eyebrow as he regarded a scene of debauchery and carnal enjoyments taking place before them, "This is your idea of relaxing? Whatever happened to playing billiards and card games?"

"Oh hush," Kodachi chided as she took meticulous interest in the sight of her two daughters, Rose and Thorn, who were double-teaming a bodacious blonde cutie who had the most heavenly looks of unearthly, exotic beauty, the mere sight of whom gave Kodachi a thrill and made her hope that her children would be generous enough later on to share this one with their mother, "What would be the point of that? Besides, the children do need to keep practicing their arts if they are to deepen their mastery of Sexcraft."

"If you wanna put it that way, fine by me," Toltiir shrugged, "I'm not exactly a truant officer, but I can't help wondering if these kids ever go to a regular high school."

"We have our own school for those pre-school aged to junior high school," Kodachi replied, "But some of the older children do attend a local high school so that they gain the socializing skills that they will need to prosper in the world outside House Miroku. Necessarily we have an arrangement with the local school administrators so that most of our children are allowed to take home tutoring so that they can work in our restaurant by day and not have to interrupt their training. As you no doubt already know, attendance for those over sixteen is not mandatory as it would be in other countries..."

"Yeah, I know," Toltiir replied, "Kids have to be accepted into high school, and they have to pass rigorous tests that cause some of the highest teen suicide rates in the world. Glad to see your kids don't suffer from performance anxiety."

"Just so," Kodachi nodded, then paused as he heard a cry of particular delight and turned her focus towards the beautiful girl known as Watazashi, who was presently held spread-eagled on the pool table while Shiromitsu was mounting her from above, running his manhood in and out of her exposed opening with strong and determined pelvic thrusts that were eliciting a response altogether positive in nature. The athletic young woman (who reminded Kodachi so powerfully much of herself at a young age) who had seemed to attached to the beauteous Yuan-Yen did not seem to very much mind the fact that her dearly beloved was on the floor screwing around with Omake, Tsuyori and Tenshin with total abandon. The sight was altogether surprising and yet powerfully alluring as she found it all too easy to identify with Watazashi, having herself enjoyed that position on numerous occasions.

"Well, come along then," Watazashi said with some reluctance, "Let's leave the children to their own devices and I'll show you next to our other playroom, and then we'll stop by an area we call the Blue Room."

"Sounds good to me," Toltiir spared one last glance at the winged Kinko, who was definitely screwing to delight the indigo-haired Bracelet, "I doubt a bomb going off in that room would even get a rise out of these kids."

The next chamber over was an even more elaborately furnished chamber that could have doubled as a mid-sized dungeon, and in the middle of this were a pair of girls suspended on a pair of swing-like harnesses that dangled by chains from the ceiling. Currently engaging this pair were two other girls with strap-on vibrating two-way harnesses presently humping them royally, while behind them two more girls were doing the same to them with harnessed double-dong vibrators of their own, while yet two more girls were busy playing with the boobs of the second pair of women, all eight of which were making noises that were alternately pleasurable and distressed, as if the entire room was about to explode into one gigantic multi-clit climax that would shake the rafters and blow the roof off the whole chamber. This energetic scene of girls with multi-  
hued haircolors and styles was enough to bring a rise of pleasurable satisfaction from Kodachi, who looked on at this scene with a mingled sense of pride and envy.

"Ah," she sighed, "It does a mother proud to see young people these days upholding traditional values."

"Guess that's one way of putting it," Toltiir replied, "But I think-for the sake of safety-we had better clear out from ground-zero over there because I think the Oni chick is about to blow the electric bill for a good sized villa, and the Jurai fem is going to be about a millisecond behind her."

"Eh?" Kodachi became aware of the rising electrostatic tension in the air and did a quick calculation, "Good point. Some orgies are best viewed from the safety of an insulated Plexiglas booth, though I'm sure when things cool down that things will more-or-less be back to normal."

"Whatever definition of normal you go by," Toltiir said as they closed the door and continued down the hallway, only to have the floor rock under their feet a second later by a blast that knocked said door off of its hinges.

"I must make a note to speak with Nabiki about this," Kodachi noted without missing a beat, "Next time we should invest in more insulation in that particular playroom."

"Not to mention a tougher pair of hinges," Toltiir added, his cat-like dignity barely ruffled.

A short time later they found a room with even more tasteful furnishings set to the color of aquamarine with aquariums adorning the walls and a pleasant kind of hum in the air that was soothing to the nerves and distinctly erotic in tone and nature...fitting accompaniment to the sight that greeted them in the main area of the room, where eight comely lasses were pleasantly setting about to screw one another silly in various interesting ways that brought a raised eyebrow even to the cynical cat-God.

"Blue room, huh?" Toltiir remarked, "It fits."

"Well now," Kodachi smiled broadly, "I can see Kama-Sutra has matters well in hand here...in a manner of speaking."

"You sure named her right," Toltiir agreed, seeing the improbable three-way Yoga-like body postures of the dark purple haired Kama, who was twined in passion with the redheaded Ekko and the purple-haired Lylac. Off to the side Bonbori and Koi were co-mingling their essence with a deliriously around Veil Morisato and Tenko Masaki, hands, mouths, tongues and fingers probing orifices and giving delight to each other's bodies, sharing warmth and intimacy on a level that seemed altogether strange and wonderful to the recent explorers indulging in such delighted carnal passions.

"Yes, things do seem to be moving along just fine here," Kodachi smiled, "Swimmingly, of course," she added, then paused as she saw Shibari appear from a side-door bearing cords of nylon rope in her hands with the obvious intent of putting it to good use, at which point Kodachi said, "More than fine, in fact, I'd say things were about to be tied up together in a nice, neat package."

Toltiir paused a moment to reflect on the name of the girl holding the ropes, then shook his head and said, "I don't want to know!"

"Shibari dear," Kodachi called out to Shikari's twin sister.

"Yes, Auntie?" Shibari asked, turning a curious look her way.

"By all means do have fun," Kodachi urged, "But be mindful of the time. Dinner will be in only a few hours, and before that happens we should be sure to bathe and wash these strangers so that we can have them ready for dinner. After all, it pays to make a good impression."

"I'll remember that, Auntie," Shibari smiled, then turned back to her intended targets, snapping the rope in her hands while smiling as she contemplated her multiple targets...

Toltiir did a quick scan of this girl's mind and promptly decided it was enough, and that the girl was well-named indeed as she was a consummate mistress of Japanese robe bondage, and the things that she could do with a set of nylon chord would have shocked the Marquis d'Sade with the sheer audacity and inventiveness of her perverse imagination. Despite some qualms he had about leaving the daughter of a good friend at the mercy of such a creature (Belldandy would never forgive him if she knew about this!), he had a strong hunch that direct intervention would not be very much appreciated by Veil Morisato, who had every indication given to wanting to explore the full extent of all the Miroku had to teach her and her beloved Princess Tenko.

Kodachi lingered just long enough to savor the sweet atmosphere of fem-to-fem sex going full throttle then reluctantly turned away and led Toltiir further on into the complex, stopping at last at a particular room with hardly a knock to announce her entrance. With a broad smile on her lips she said, "Miko-chan, Ranma-Sama, we have a guest-OH MY!"

That was the general consensus as far as Toltiir was concerned, for there before them was the battle scarred and hardened body of Ranma Saotome (TC) being pleasurably attended to by five Miroku women, not least of whom was the one named Miko Mido. Standing off to one side were two very different versions of Ryoga, another smirking Ranma (Miroku), and two other male figures whom Toltiir knew at once to be Lord Dan Suzuka and his loyal minion, the hermaphrodite, Ranmaru. The Time Patrol Ranma appeared to be getting lavish attention from these buxom beauties who were the elders of the Miroku house, with Miko being the one currently licking around the scrotum of the distressed-seeming Saotome. She looked up in pleasant surprise and gave Kodachi an affectionate leer that was plainly an open invitation.

"Company, 'Dachi-chan? Well now...such a handsome guest!" coed the clan leader of the Miroku, "Come on in and join the fun, handsome stranger..."

"Stranger?" Ryoga (TC) turned around and said, "You?"

"Me," Toltiir replied before nodding his head towards the Time Patrol Ranma, "What happened here? Saotome win the jackpot or something?"

"Aw, we're just giving my Paratime Bro a good warm-up for the big fiesta," Ranma (M) replied, "This is Miroku House's idea of a Bachelor party, and you gotta admit that this sure beats having a girl pop out of a cake. In a short time from now, he's gonna make his Nabiki into an honest woman."

"Really?" Kodachi said in amusement, "I didn't know he could perform that sort of miracle...how intriguing."

Miko grinned at that and said, "Wanna take over, 'Dachi? It's your turn to play with the Man-Flute."

"I thought you would never ask," Kodachi's hungry leer broadened and without further preamble she slipped out of her dress, revealing that she wore no underwear underneath, though her figure was remarkably girlish for a woman in her late thirties.

"K-K-Kodachi?" Ranma (TC) gasped as his eyes went wide, taking in the sight of the voluptuous lady Kuno. His dismay turned to actual terror as he saw Kodachi sink to her knees as she presented herself before him, and without further preamble she took firm hold of his stiff manhood in soft hands and guided it into the slot formed between her full bosoms, and then she proceeded to gently rub them up and down the shaft as Ranma (TC) looked on with a horrified expression.

"My," Kodachi purred, "You certainly are rather tense and stiff, my darling Ranma-sama, but I know just the thing to help you to relax...in every sense but the one you will need for pleasuring Nabiki."

"Ah..." Ryoga said, "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean..."

"Hey, trust her," Ranma (M) said, "'Dachi gives good head, and I should know since I've been plugging all of her openings for the better part of two decades."

"But-but-but...!?" Ranma (TC) sputtered in disbelief that turned to perverse fascination as he saw Kodachi open her mouth and take the ball end of his shaft in, licking and kissing it before pushing it in even deeper."

"Watch what you say about 'Dachi, Bub," Ranma (M) warned with a light growl, "That happens to be one of my wives who's giving you a blowjob to remember."

"You know," Toltiir remarked, "Somehow forgetting about this doesn't seem too likely to happen, eh, Special Agent Saotome?"

"A-A-AAAAAHHH!" Ranma (TC) rolled back his head, not able to climax but very much amazed when he felt something swell up within him like the backwash of a river that had been dammed from its normal outflow.

"You see, my friend?" Dan smirked with obvious relish, "Kodachi is one of the most accomplished oral experts in House Miroku. You can well trust yourself in her hands, she has never yet left a lover disappointed."

Toltiir privately mused that being in Kodachi's "hands" did not seem to be the problem that most concerned the Time Patrol version of Saotome, who was presently being supported by the other girls, who conversely held him motionless and unable to escape as Kodachi took more and more of him down into her throat as though to devour his man-sausage whole, and if anything it was more like the "Lion's Mouth" that Ranma was fearing, the Black Rose giving every evidence of a hungry predator who would gleefully devour him whole, if it were permitted.

"In less than an hour you will have the release you seek, Saotome," mused Ranmaru, "That is if you do not pass out with a case of terminal blue-balls, of course."

"Hey, be nice, Ran-kun," Ranma (M) chided, "It's been twenty hears since the guy had any, not counting that one ride on the Wheel of Ecchi."

"And even there he had to have Nabiki strapped down in a harness before he could bed her," noted the Miroku house version of Ryoga.

"Really?" Miko mused, "What a pity..."

"A pity we couldn't be there to watch and take part in the fun you mean," added Miyu from where she was nuzzling Ranma's collarbone.

"Yes," Yaku sighed as she rubbed her full bosoms up against Ranma (TC)'s hard chest, "And even more of a pity we can't take this Ranma right here and now like we did the first time with our Ranma. Remember that time, girls? All of us and the Stud, and the way he managed to last through seven consecutive climaxes?"

"What?" Ryoga (TC) blinked, "SEVEN?"

"Hey, it was his first time," Ryoga (M) shrugged, "Since then he's had a lot more practice."

"That he has," grinned Botsasu as she rubbed her breasts up and down Ranma(TC)'s right leg, using her hard nipples to further excite him, "Guess we'll just have to content ourselves with getting him ready for the wedding, girls, and save our best for the reception, where we can have our usual group orgy, just us, the boys and the older kids together."

"The...Older kids?" Ryoga (TC) blinked.

"The ones who are seventeen or older, of course," Ryoga (M) explained, "Ready to graduate with honors as full-fledged Miroku."

"After all," Dan mused, "There is nothing wrong with a little in-house incest for those with the mental and emotional maturity to handle screwing their aunts and their mothers."

"But only if you keep it strictly in the family," added Miko with a leer that was heartfelt, "Some day our children will be moving on and having children of their own to raise in the Miroku arts, and we want them to be fully accomplished at Sexcraft for when they go out into the world and encounter odd groups of renegade Shikima."

"Which happens a lot on most major college campuses these days," mused Miyu, "Which just goes to show that what the world needs are a lot more Miroku."

"We're working on that part with the kids under fourteen years of age," Yaku noted, "But they're too young to work in a restaurant, so we mostly leave them in the care of our grandparents, especially Lemon, the Amazon Elder."

"Lemon?" Ryoga (TC) blinked his eyes in confusion.

"Le-Mon," Ranmaru corrected, "A formidable woman who is the Chinese equivalent of a Miroku. Among her tribe she was considered an outcast...'Happosai's Understudy' was what they liked to call her, but here in Japan, with her Uncle Happosai helping to run the Tendo Dojo on behalf of Lord and Lady Tendo...""

"That's Soun and Hinako in case you're wondering, Bro," Ranma (M) elaborated, "They got hitched not long after we all started shacking up together, and the kids they don't look after wind up studying under Pop and my Mom, who teach the boys all about manhood and the girls about the virtues of being born female."

"Terrific," Ranma (TC) gasped, still unable to take his eyes away from the unbelievable sight of Kodachi Kuno giving him a blowjob (and one HELL of a good one from the feel of her velvety throat!), "With those kind of role models...it no wonder the kids...turned out like they did..."

"Try not to look at it as a negative, Ranma-kun," Botsasu pouted.

"Yeah," Yaku smiled as she rose to her feet and took him by one hand to encourage him to squeeze one of her ripe and juicy nipples, "You don't hear any of our kids complaining, do you?"

"Urk," Ranma (TC) said as he felt a trickle of milk run down his fingers, discovering by this means that the green-haired Were-woman was lactating, a thought that triggered in him the horrified thought, [IF NABIKI EVER FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS-!]...

And-not very far away as these things went, it just so happened that his promised bride was also thinking much the same thing with, [IF RANMA-KUN EVER FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS-!] herself being the recipient of much lavish and devoted attention. Bad enough to have somehow submitted herself to being oiled and massaged by a tribe of incestuous Hentais, or of having a counterpart to herself and both of her sisters making out with her with no apologies or holds barred, or of having Ukyo and Shampoo join in on the pleasure, but now she had two versions of Akari and Ryonami to contend with, to say nothing of such an amorous sexpot as the blond-haired Fubuki all but climb all over her, as though Nabiki were her personal property and plaything...or something!

Either version!

And at the center of it all was a poor, defenseless, confused and fiendishly turned-on Lore Master getting reamed on all sides by hands, lips, tongues and fingers that seemed to know her every nook and cranny by heart and could stimulate her pleasure-nerves with cunning efficiency and merciless devotion. Nabiki (TC)'s mind was purely ecstatic as she crested somewhere above the clouds, transported from a vessel of mere flesh into some higher dimension of awareness in which she was pure emotional energy, sexual drive and dynamism, aching with the need to explode in lusty consummation, yet held back along the edge by a force greater than her own will, a voice that kept insisting that she had to wait for just the right moment.

Of them all, only Ryonami had ever shared intimacies like this with Nabiki (TC), and no one else did the sole survivor of the Tendo clan trust in such a personable manner. Until now she had-either consciously or unconsciously-  
been "saving herself for Ranma," and sex with another girl had not seemed like "cheating" to her perspective. Ryonami had been her friend since childhood, and her most trusted of lieutenants, the only person she felt comfortable around (other than Kasumi, and that was for very different reasons) and the only one she felt that she could trust with her most intimate secrets. Loyalty to Nabiki had always been one of Ryonami's strongest qualities, and the girl could be counted on not to share what she knew or to use it to Nabiki's disadvantage. If Ryonami had been a man she probably would have married her (instead of allowing Ryonami to drift to that strange relationship that developed between her and Gosunkuji...), and when she needed a shoulder to cry upon (a very rare incident indeed), Ryonami was always there with a smile and a handkerchief with no questions asked and only a cheerfully understanding disposition.

It was for all these reasons (and more) that Nabiki had finally consented to "give in" and indulge in a little "harmless" mutual exploration...nothing too serious, just one night when they had been forced to share the same bed due to a scheduling mix-up on a school field trip when Ryonami was just THERE and Nabiki was feeling a little too bored and restless, and curiosity overcame her usual reserve, and Ryonami had been willing to "experiment a little." Nothing was said outright or even afterwards, but both of them knew something fundamental had changed in the nature of their relationship, and not long after this Ryonami transferred to a different high school. Nabiki had been disappointed by this, but to her surprise found that Ryonami kept in touch and had been abroad for a time before coming home in time to join Nabiki when the two of them finally enrolled together in their first semester of college.

It was when they wound up sharing a room in a dorm together that things really changed for them both in a rather dramatic and unexpected manner.

It was as if they had both been waiting for that moment to finally let their hair down and discover if their mutual "feel-fest" in high school was merely a fluke or an indication of something even deeper beneath the surface. For a time Nabiki had even wondered if she were in love with her favorite "numbers cruncher" (as she liked to call Ryonami in those days), but finally settled for the easy companionship that her "Ryo-chan" could give since it was already too late and Nabiki had really and truly given her heart to another...and not even been the wiser for the giving!

It was the year that reality went crashing down upon her head, the year that the marriage between Ranma and Akane deteriorated before her very eyes, when she would come home on a visit and see Ranma all but reduced to a skeleton of his former robust health and martial glory by an Akane who was quite plainly out of control and headed for a path of self-destruction. Nabiki had stood on the sidelines and watched as Ukyo tried vainly to pry Ranma away from his fate, but the baka's stubborn refusal to admit the obvious had wrenched at even Nabiki once-cold heart as she saw how hard Ranma tried to please an unwinnable Akane...and then that terrible bitter ending...when Nabiki had been on hand in time to see Akane skewer her former rival as Ukyo took a sword blade that had been meant for Ranma...

Yeah, that was a pretty tough blow to all that Nabiki had thought she had formerly known about her life in Nerima. All of her illusions, pretensions and denials had melted away as she had stood petrified like a statue seeing the unholy rage turn her baby sister into a virtual demon. For one moment she had thought Akane really and truly had killed Ranma along with Kuonji, and the lurching of emotion welling up in her right there and then had shattered her former complacency forever. Thank the Kami that Kasumi had the presence of mind to act when she did, or that Doctor Tofu was already headed towards their house at her invitation, so when Kasumi had pried away the sword from Akane's hand after screaming out to Akane that she had just killed her husband...and all Nabiki could do was to stare at the crimson stains on the sword blade as it went flying to land nearly at her feet. For the longest time she had stared at the sword as if in mute fascination while Kasumi tended to Ranma's already-present wounds while Akane had folded up into a fetal position, wailing about some Demon or Oni making her do it...

To this day Nabiki had wondered at the strange play of emotions that washed through her while Kasumi did what she had to in order to save the life of Ranma. Ukyo was already beyond help, but by the time Tofu arrived on the scene he had seen the way Kasumi had competently used her first aid skills to prevent Ranma from bleeding to death, and even so it would require forty-nine stitches to close the gash that the sword had made to Ranma's shoulder. Nabiki had wondered at the odd thoughts that ran through her mind while this happened, right up until Tofu managed to snap her out of her daze and send her into the house to get the supplies that he needed.

She could still remember thinking of picking up the blade and pressing its tip against her own breastbone, of falling on her sword like some refugee from a Samurai movie...and what on earth would possess her to ever do that? Only later would she realize that the strange, almost unfamiliar sensation that had filled her back then, an emotion that previously she would have ignored had it made its presence known was what other people would call a "Guilty Conscience." It was as if her mind were reacting to the scene of tragedy not with a declaration of "Akane did this" but rather a more complex emotion that went something like, "I KILLED RANMA!"

Such feelings of personal responsibility and self-recrimination would only grow stronger after she had time to seriously think about what had happened. Her state of mind was not at all made better when Akane was ruled "Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity" and consigned to a mental hospital for the remainder of her days, nor was she in any better shape when her beloved older sister, Kasumi, would join her shortly after. Whatever strength of character or will had enabled Kasumi to remain in control when Ranma needed her aid gradually crumbled and deserted her altogether as the eldest Tendo sister suffered a delayed nervous breakdown, complaining about blood stains that she could not work out from her dress or the floorboards of the dojo. She claimed to see Kuonji's ghost haunting the site of her demise, and gradually she lost the ability to take care of herself, along with the will to live, and seeing her deteriorate had caused a similar such reaction in their father, who had long depended on Kasumi for the bedrock pillar of his overly emotional well being.

Why had she not gone insane like the rest of her family? Why had guilt not crushed her soul the way it had her father and much-loved older sister? Nabiki could never truly find and answer to this that would completely satisfy her, but she believed that part of the reason she stayed relatively sane was that Ryonami had been there to support her, to let her know that someone did not blame her for what had happened, or hold it against Nabiki that she had not done anything to prevent the crisis such as intervene in time to get Akane the help she desperately needed. In truth Nabiki had tried to convince their father that Akane's behavior was becoming erratic, she had read books on the subject and had come to the conclusion that Ranma was in serious danger, but that DAMNABLE trait of all Japanese families, PRIDE, had prevented anyone else from either seeing or accepting the fact that the marriage was doomed and would never produce offspring. There would be no "little Ranko" in this marriage to justify all the time and trauma, the endless suffering and heartache that preceded the bitter ending.

In truth it had been Akane who refused to see that she had a problem, Akane who set all her blame on Ranma and would not seek professional counseling, the way Kuonji had tried to do for Ranma. In truth it had surprised Nabiki, after the fact, to learn that Ranma had enrolled in just such a counseling service. Such things were rare in Japan, a society that had a long history of denial and evasion on the subject of Spousal Abuse, and to learn after the fact that Ranma had been helping these women by teaching them "Self-Defense" courses (until Akane found out about it and forced him to stop altogether). It had given Nabiki new insight into his character (and to Kuonji's too, though that was a different story) and helped her find the clue she needed to help bring Ranma out of his steep depression when he was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health. Nabiki had coordinated with the director of that clinic to get Ranma back into attending classes so that the women he had helped could help him recover from his loss...and, of course, Ryonami had been there to back Nabiki up and counter all of Saotome's half-hearted objections.

Over the years ever since Nabiki had never lost her feelings of gratitude for Ryonami's friendship, and even after Nabiki dropped out of college and began her years of wandering and self-exile (which culminated in her arrival at a certain Chinese village, where she would eventually meet her Mistress, Lotion) she had managed to keep in touch with Ryonami, her anchor to the world and the one true friend that she had in all her lonely existence. After eventually winding up with the Time Patrol and earning the position of a dispatcher she would look Ryonami up and offer her a job as her assistant, and never once had she even believed that Ryonami would say no, for it was as though the two of them knew that they belonged together...rather like a romance heroine and her faithful side-kick. They would eventually find the time to screw around on the sly, but that came later after Nabiki began to like herself once more as a person. In truth it was just because she was Ryonami, and supportive, that Nabiki had found her companionship so endearing that a little "post graduate fucking" had seemed the proper way of expressing her gratitude and affection for Ryonami.

Besides which, Ryonami was such a HOTTIE! Nabiki had never found it difficult to yield to temptation when it came to their 'screwing around" together. It was not as serious as a romance, so it had a more casual feel to it, and not something they felt compelled to do, like two partners in a marriage. If one or both of them was in the mood, fine, if not, that was also fine, and it was just as emotionally pleasing to spend time together in other pursuits. Besides, Ryonami by then had a family of her own to care for and could not afford the entanglement of a serious affair, just as Nabiki knew implicitly that she had committed herself to Ranma and would one day claim him as her husband...

That thought brought a sudden jolt back to Nabiki, who had been so overwhelmed by the sensations all around her that she had almost lost all objectivity over the situation!

Yes, here was a Kasumi who was very much alive (and leaving Nabiki in no doubt of that whatsoever!) while Akane was whole and sane and had her mouth firmly latched onto one of Nabiki's bosoms. Ukyo and Shampoo were nuzzling her hips and ass-cheeks with some well-placed tongue-flicks while the girl named Fubuki was attending to Nabiki's other breast (and doing it quite well, much to Nabiki surprise and heartfelt approval). Meanwhile on the floor knelt Ryonami, her mouth covering Nabiki's bush with a tongue expertly reaming her labia walls with much-practiced strokes perfected from long and arduous hours when the both of them had been ensconced in one of their private trysts together. Meanwhile both Akaris were on the floor and busy exploring the "similarities and differences" in their anatomy like a pair of happily squealing piglets "making bacon." It made Nabiki altogether conscious of the fact that Kasumi and the other Nabiki were the only things holding her up above the floor as they stood behind her back running their hands over her shoulders (and probably each other as well, if Nabiki TC could trust her Lore Master senses).

It was Ryonami's presence that was by far the most familiar, and yet having her friend here to "wish her well in her impending marriage to Ranma" that seemed the most bizarre trait by far, as though Ryonami's idea of a proper "Send-Off" was to milk Nabiki's loins of their last ounce of jism. Staring down at her friend (and sometime lover) made Nabiki's toes curl as she wondered about whether or not she was giving up just this sort of affair by consenting to marry Ranma. Ryonami meant more to her than she had heretofore suspected, and discovering this made Nabiki marvel at the whole inexplicable situation. Would she ever again know the feeling of that soft tongue reaming her out and driving her steadily to such a mind-blowing distraction? In spite of her desire for the wedding, she certainly hoped that this would not be the end of all sexual congress between them!

Perhaps Ryonami knew what was in her mind (she had that uncanny gift of guessing Nabiki's thoughts without needing to hear them aloud), for she saw her friend open her eyes and smile at her, then wink up the length of her body before going back to work again attempting to undo the effects of whatever nerve block the Miroku had used to prevent her having a climax!

And that brought home once again what was impending in the background...that she was about to marry Ranma, that life for her was about to change once again in possibly strange and unexpected directions. More than likely she would come to rely on Ryonami's support in the future, and it was comforting to know that she could lean on her (in more than just the sense that much of her weight was now focused upon her pelvis) in times to come...and not just times cumming! Still and all...the idea that she was marrying RANMA...after almost twenty years of secret longing and denial...

What else was a material girl to do beside go with the flow at this point? And with that single thought she abandoned herself to live in the moment, aware of the comely and desirable bodies pressing in on her from all sides, sisters and "semi-friends" from her misspent childhood, and nothing do to but go "crazy with lust" as she abandoned all pretenses. Besides...a girl growing up in Nerima could hardly have helped having certain FANTASIES about what it might be like to...oh, say...fondle Shampoo's ample chest to determine that those boobs were 100% genuine, or give Kuonji a reaming out that would confirm if she were more girl than guy, or find out what the heck it was about this Fubuki that was such a turn-on for her counterpart. To be sure there were other questions that surfaced in her mind about whether Akane liked girls more than guys, or if Kasumi was really all that "prim and proper" when you tongued her, and-most especially of all-whether or not making out with a radically different version of yourself constituted a "favorite fantasy" by exploring that option with her too-willing counterpart, all in the time remaining between then and when she was officially supposed to be walking down the aisle with Ranma!

She would worry about technical problems like "commitment" and "fidelity" after she had time to sober, for now was the time to PARTY, for tomorrow she might be a WIFE (and what better way to head off a nervous breakdown at the emotions that word conjured?). She only hoped that Ranko was getting along on her own because Nabiki planned to be busy for a while and would not have the time nor energy to extend her consciousness and see how her adopted prot g was doing...

11.

Red on Silver (Round Two)

Tsuyori's instructions for this time around had been forthrightly simple: "Do whatever you feel like doing and let yourself be guided by your instincts." These were instructions that Silver had no trouble following as she took a more aggressive role this time around, compelling Ranko to lay on her back once again while she used her mouth, hands and lips to explore over areas of the redhead's taut body that previously had been left open only to pure speculation.

Such as Ranko's feet, as a matter of fact, which Silver was now busy "cleaning" with her tongue (though after their time in the sauna, they were pretty clean to begin with). This was producing the desired effect of getting Ranko to alternately laugh and groan at the surprising sensations a tongue was giving to her ball, instep and ankle, especially when Silver reamed the space between her toes and licked around the edges before taking the big toe in her mouth and sucking on it as though it were a cock, all of which combined to give Ranko the most delightful sensations that the redhead had not even previously suspected.

Even as this went on, however, Ranko was far from idle, using her free foot to nuzzle Silver's moistened bush with cunning accuracy and detail as though guided by instinct to know just exactly how to use that foot to fondle and caress her. Silver spread her knees farther apart and did not resist the soft intrusion of that foot against her pelvis. If anything the sensations Ranko produced in her brought a smile and a sense of budding confidence that made Silver decide just how to "pay back" the redhead for the "screw job" with the tongue flick, and opportunity came knocking when the Miroku girl named Price entered the room holding a pitcher of water (along with a teakettle), stumbling on the scene of rampant debauchery going on all around, which created the opportunity that Silver was seeking.

"Oneechan," Price had said to Tsuyori as she scanned the room with lifted eyebrows, "You didn't tell me you were throwing this kind of party..."

"Did you suspect any other kind?" Tsuyori smiled back, "You did bring the cold and heated water like I asked?"

"Sure did," Price smiled, then struck a pose that left little doubt of who was her principle parent, "That's five hundred yen you owe me, unless you want to pay me back with 'special favors?'"

"We'll negotiate that in a minute, Imoutochan..." Tsuyori began to say when Silver all at once leaped to her feet and snatched the pitcher from the tray, partially pouring its contents over her head and triggering her transformation into her masculine aspect, which was darker haired and larger in ALL proportions.

"Now we're in business!" Silver grinned, eyeing the surprised Ranko like a hungry lecher, "Get ready for a royal screw job, Bitch! You've had this cumming all morning!"

"But..." Tsuyori started to protest, then thought better of it as she saw the now black-haired "Silver-kun" pounce on a startled Ranko like a cat cornering a mouse, to which the Miroku girl said, "Never mind..." and signaled to Price that she should be seated.

Ranko was taken completely off her guard as Silver-kun bore down on her, a MAN now in all senses of the term, and so well hung that it made her eyes widen like a character from an Anime. Without preamble this guy proceeded to kiss and devour her with hungry attention to every inch of her face, and yet not so coarse and crude in his methods that this treatment could at all be resented. Ranko became aware of the press of his chest against her bosoms and found the scent of this man was not at all unpleasant. It was such a startling contrast from the female Silver that she found herself off-guard, vulnerable and helpless to resist him. Any thought of fending him off evaporated within the first few seconds as he began to kiss his way down her cheek and neckline to gradually work his way further south as Ranko arched her back and permitted him full body access.

"Oh my," Price said with a mutely astonished expression.

"My sentiments exactly," Tsuyori noted, "His technique is crude and even rudimentary, but he shows real promise and has good instincts. Notice how he keeps her aroused and almost fearful of his strength without actually overpowering her in a physical manner? That's the reflex many women have when presented with a strong and aggressive Alpha-male, the intuitive yielding to his strength and the perceived virility that he represents. Some women are drawn to men of status and position within a hierarchy, but Ranko-chan is drawn to strength and nobility. She's an Alpha female and she rewards herself only to the guy who comes close to meeting her demanding physical and emotional standards."

"In other words she's turned on by his guy-thing," Price remarked, "Good thing I turned fifteen two months ago or I wouldn't know what that was like, but I sure wish I got here earlier so I could have watched them go at it Fem-to-Fem style."

"It was...a pretty energetic training session so far," Tsuyori smiled, "You definitely would have enjoyed it. Still may if things continue to progress as I anticipate."

Price nodded mutely and scanned the room, seeing Kitten going at it with what looked like a green-haired Shikima in full heat (nothing unusual about that, though she was surprised a Shikima had come visiting this early in the day) while the guy named Akira was being smothered by Bukotei and Sakura, one sitting on his dick, the other on his face while the two went at it on top of him like a pair of hungry wildcats, playing with each other's "breast-meat."

Meanwhile Ranko was getting suckled once more by a hungry Silver-kun, who had his mouth latched firmly over one stiff breast as though he were trying to draw milk from her teat, and this while she felt the overpowering sense of raw masculinity in the air, driving her until-now Fem-crazy senses to distraction. Silver-kun was exactly the same in his technique as before, but now backed by the larger size and greater strength of a man's body and appetites, and with her the prime course on his menu!

"I see what you mean by energetic," Price remarked, "Is it just the curse that's making him act so aggressive?"

"No, it's pure lust, driven by a will to exceed in any competition," Tsuyori replied, "Silver lost the first round, so now she's determined to win the second, not that Ranko seems to mind the sudden reversal in their fortunes."

"I see," Price smiled, "Somebody should teach him to slow down a bit and not get so carried away this early in the matter. At the rate he's going he'll pop his cork inside of the next five minutes."

"I give him seven at max," Tsuyori agreed, "With the inside track on him becoming a two-minute wonder, like when he mounted me earlier this morning."

"You got a ride on THAT, Sis?" Price indicated the "Donkey Dong" that was dangling from between Silver-kun's legs, "I am SOOOO jealous!"

"Don't worry," Tsuyori said, "They'll be time enough for that...later...just see? Those aggressive instincts you just noted are about to come to the fore again. I believe sister Ranko is about to learn a thing or two about what it means to be "rear-mounted."

As she said this Silver-kun had been nibbling out in the space between Silver's legs, but he no longer felt content to "merely" indulge in some "harmless" cunnalingus, and tongue-lashing Ranko to another full orgasm was hardly the first thing on his agenda. This time, instead, he got up off of the not-yet-  
satisfied Ranko, puzzling her until Silver-kun picked her up and flipped her over into a "face-down" position, then wrapped the redhead's warrior-braid around one hand to provide appropriate leverage while his other free hand played with her loins and "encouraged her" to spread her knees farther apart while lifting her fanny in the air with her face and arms braced against the floor in a "tilted-Doggie" position. With his free fingers he played about her loins until they were well and firmly lubricated, then slipped those fingers up to Ranko's right little anus and began to insert a digit part of the way to coat this "other entrance."

"What...?" Ranko started to feel a sense of alarm, but by this point it was too late for her to resist or offer even the most token of protests.

"Gonna give you a new kind of ride, Bitch," Silver mused in a lusty tone of fully-masculine arousal, "It's tight down there, but you ought to be able to fit me."

"WHAT?" Ranko's eyes widened and she tried to push off the floor, only to be forced back down as a second finger entered the hole, along with the first, followed by a third digit until all three fingers were "smoothing" the way and widening her sphincter to accommodate something considerably larger than a finger.

"Oh my indeed," Price said, "You were right on the money, as usual, Oneechan."

"Just comes from being partially precognitive," Tsuyori replied, "Let's watch and see if he really can get a sausage like that all the way into our sister, Ranko."

Ranko felt the press of something large and round "knocking" at her back door and felt a momentary surge of panic, and then she felt the rod force its way into her fanny, causing her to unconsciously spread her legs a little wider and relax her sphincter as Silver pushed it part of the way in, then held back and withdrew after only a few seconds. A second thrust went even deeper, followed by a third and-at long last-it slid all of the rest of the way into her. Ranko's eyes got VERY wide as a feeling of being stuffed up to her spine made it seem for a moment as though she were passing a log the size of her forearm, and for a moment she feared that his "meat" was going to tear her in half, so great was the pressure of having him inside her to the hilt!

But then her body instinctively relaxed and accommodated the presence of a nine-  
inch member going "where no Man had ever gone before!" It was amazing the kinds of sensations that awoke in her on having him "fill her up" in such a manner. Silver-kun's "rod" was certainly a tight fit, but now that it was fully sheathed within her she could relax around him and let her sphincter muscles tighten to hold him firmly trapped within her.

Silver-kun grunted slightly at feeling the sudden "grip" around the base of his shaft, but by now he was fully committed to reaming her pretty ass, and Ranko had been "asking for this" all day! With only a moment to settle in and adjust himself to his new accommodations, he proceeded to rock his hips back and forth ever-so-slightly to cause the "meat" to grind against her insides. Ranko groaned appropriately and started to rock back in a slow counterpoint to his movements, thereby further intensifying the friction.

"Are you sure those two are amateurs?" Price asked with surprise plainly written on her features.

"Talented amateurs, yes," Tsuyori replied, "Yet what they lack in technique they more than make up for in spirit and sex drive."

"If I didn't know any better," Price mused, "I'd swear those two had been screwing each other all of their lives, like Miroku."

"They just met today, but it's plain that they are kindred spirits," Tsuyori agreed, "There is significant chemistry between them, and I dare say that they are becoming more intensely attracted the longer they are together."

"By the way," Price turned to see the "other guy" in the room, whose muffled groans were being smothered by Bukotei, "I've been meaning to ask...why are they torturing that guy instead of bringing him off like they're supposed to?"

"They're saving him in reserve, Sister dear," Tsuyori ginned, "Watch and learn, you are about to see the double-edged sword that is a Nanniichuan 'curse,' if curse is the word that suitably applies here."

Ranko's breath caught as she felt an incredible surge of emotion and bodily fluids rising up within her, and to her amazement she climaxed again, feeling her whole body shudder and vibrate from the "ride" that she was experiencing. Instinctively she reached out with a free hand and touched her clitoris to stimulate it, guiding her body through the marvelous "afterglow" of her third intense orgasm experienced within the hour. Her gyrations proved to be the straw that broke the dike as Silver felt his own organ shudder and climax, shooting hot liquid up into the spine of his new "conquest," causing Ranko to shudder again as she brought herself off to a crashing forth orgasm! This time the seas not only sought to drown her but to drive her under with the force of a tsunami! Her whole being quivered as Silver unloaded his wad into her rectum, and then the both of them cried out in mutual amazement as something else seemed to flow between them, like a spiritual essence transmitted through the medium of his semen.

"Two minutes, thirty-seven seconds, as I predicted," Tsuyori remarked matter-of-  
factly while Price sat rigid beside her with her brown hair virtually standing on end.

"Ohhh...MAN!" Silver-kun groaned hoarsely, fighting to remain upright as he wavered over the cocky little redhead.

"You said it...!" Ranko gasped, so far out of breath that she wondered if the life had been sucked out of her with that double-explosion.

It took a moment for Silver-kun to rally his strength, but then he grinned and crowed triumphantly, "I won that round, Red. Your ass was mine this time."

"No fair," Ranko almost mutely protested, "You cheated."

"Ain't my fault if you got so distracted by me riding your ass that you lost it near the end," Silver-kun smirked, "Next time we do it I'll get you in the front door, then you can protest all you want while I bang you until your brains rattle loose, Red."

In spite of her exhaustion, Ranko managed a weak smile, "Don't count on it...next time I'll be riding...your ass..."

"Yeah, right," Silver-kun snorted, only to turn his head when he heard a muffled cry that was close enough to the sound of someone being murdered. With a start he saw who it was and cried, "Akira-chan? HEY! You two, enough already!"

Bukotei turned her head and glanced at Silver-kun with a smirk while Sakura just pointedly ignored him.

"That does it," Silver eased his way out of Ranko, still erect enough to manage a "popping" sound as he vacated her sphincter, "I ain't sitting by for this no more! Ain't nobody gets away with doing that to my Akira-chan...I'm putting a stop to things right now!"

Ranko felt oddly disappointed at having him exit her body, but her rectum felt like a balloon that had been stretched too far and for the moment she definitely did not feel like sitting upright, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Ain't it obvious?" Silver-kun got to his feet and declared, "I'll save Akira-  
chan by screwing those two silly bitches myself! Hold on, Akira-chan! I'M COM-  
-PHAW!?"

His impassioned declaration was suddenly cut off as a teakettle full of hot water was poured over his head, turning his hair silver and transforming him back to female status.

"Not quite just yet, I think," Tsuyori mused, "You'd need a while to regenerate enough semen to make it worth the time of my sisters, and besides...I have a better use for you here and now. Sisters?"

To everyone's complete surprise (including Akira) the two girls got up off of the helpless young man and knelt to one side, leaving Akira facing upward with a phallic member that was pointing like a javelin towards the ceiling.

"Now then," Tsuyori drew an unresisting Silver along and bade her to sit down over Akira, squatting so that she could bring her loins up to where his male member was positioned, then helping her to ease him all the way inside her, "There we go. Now you two can get on with the business of finishing what you started."

"Say what?" Silver blinked.

"Silver?" Akira looked up at the naked ice blonde, then in surprise allowed Tsuyori to guide his hands so that they covered both of Silver's bosoms.

"There you go," Tsuyori slipped a hand around behind Silver's fanny and touched the base of Akira's manhood in a particularly sensitive nerve cluster, then she smiled and said, "You may proceed. I take it, from this point onward, that neither one of you requires further instructions on how to conduct your affairs from this point onward?"

Silver looked down into Akira's face and saw him staring up at her with a look of unspoken wonder, and then a smile crossed the blonde's face and she said, "Oh yeah...I think I got it worked out just fine, all right with you, Akira-chan?"

Akira just stared at his beautiful half-sister in wonder then slowly nodded his head in affirmation. A minute later she was bouncing up and down on top of him while he held onto her and played with her nipples, helping to steady her while the forces churning within him began to boil up like a steaming geyser.

"Rats," Ranko complained as she half-sat upright, "I wanted to screw her next..."

"Wait your turn," Bukotei mused from where she and Sakura sat side-by-side with matching leers, "We have dibs on her once she finishes with her brother."

"Oh yeah," Sakura nodded, "These two definitely have some issues to work out between them before any of us can get in the middle of that tight squeeze."

"All in good time, sisters," Tsuyori smiled serenely, "In the meantime, I think friend Ranko has a point. It wouldn't do for us to neglect her while we are all waiting for Silver to finish milking her brother."

Both Bukotei and Sakura turned matching leers Ranko's way, to which the redhead swallowed, suddenly realizing that she was a long way from being out of the woods around these women...which-oddly enough-was just the way she wanted it to be!

A loud burping noise distracted everyone, and heads turned around to see Lamyra getting up off the floor while covering her mouth with a slightly chagrined, "Excuse me..."

"Uh...?" Price blinked, "Wasn't there...somebody with you a minute ago?"

"There was," the green haired girl replied with a pleasant expression, "She was delicious."

"HUH?" came the collective gasps of everyone except Silver and Akira (who were too far into each other to pay much notice).

"Uh...excuse me?" Bukotei blinked, "You were just now making out with Kitten..."

"Oh yes," Lamyra stretched, "Delightful girl, full-bodied and juicy, tender meat in all the right places."

"Hah?" Sakura started, "You didn't...?"

"Oh yes I did," Lamyra continued her beatific smile, "I ate her."

"SAY WHAT?" Price started, "You ATE her? I mean...you ATE-ate her? I mean...like...chew and swallow?"

"Well, as I said," Lamyra replied, "She was delicious."

"THAT WAS OUR SISTER YOU JUST ATE!" Sakura exploded.

"How could you?" Bukotei demanded.

"It was easy," Lamyra replied, "I just started at the bottom and worked my way to the top..."

"WHY YOU-!" Sakura was half to her feet when Tsuyori raised a hand and said, "Sister!"

Just then the door to the adjoining privy slid open, and out stepped the cherry-  
haired Kitten, who noticed that she was the sudden focus of attention for most of the people in the room, which prompted her to say, "Hey guys...what gives? You look like you've just seen a ghost or something."

"But...you..." Sakura sputtered.

"Fooled you," Lamyra grinned, "Had you going, didn't I?"

"Why you-!" both Bukotei and Sakura were on their feet immediately as Lamyra turned around and started running. She phased through the nearby wall, forcing the hot-blooded pair to pause long enough to slide the nearest panel door open in order to follow, and the race was on with the Miroku girls in hot pursuit of the levitating Beast girl.

"What was that all about?" Kitten blinked her eyes.

"Who knows?" Ranko sighed, "Sure dodged that bullet...whew!"

Just then Akira shot his wad into Silver-chan, who did not anticipate such a gushing sensation shooting up into her loins, almost knocking her off her perch as though a fire-hose had be let loose inside her. Tsuyori just smiled, having anticipated precisely this sort of reaction.

"Oh...hey!" Price slapped herself after recovering from her surprise over these "distractions," and she turned to Tsuyori to say, "Oneechan, I almost forgot. There's gonna be a wedding in an hour and the folks want us to prepare everything and make ready the main hall."

"A wedding?" Tsuyori responded.

"Who's getting hitched?" Ranko inquired.

"Your parents, of course," Price said with a grin, "The 'Uncle Ranma' you came with is about to walk down the aisle and get hitched to his 'Aunt Nabiki.'"

"SAYWHAT?" Silver turned around from where she sat gasping atop of a nearly-  
unconscious Akira, "My Pop is marrying Aunt Nabiki?"

"More like my Pop and my Aunt," Ranko blinked, "Oh wow...that means she'd gonna be my new Mom! Outstanding! I gotta get myself ready!"

"Hey, we'll all pitch in and do our part," Kitten agreed, "Wow...Dad and Nabiki...that's gonna be something!"

"Indeed, we must be ready," Tsuyori sighed, "I'm sorry if this means cutting our fun short this time around, but perhaps there will be other times for your lessons?"

"I'm game for it," Ranko grinned, "How about you, Silver?"

"I'm always game for a hot tail like you, Red," Silver glanced down and said, "That all right with you, Akira-chan?"

"Hah?" Akira replied, albeit a bit weakly.

"There's no time to waste, sisters," Tsuyori clapped her hands together, "Everyone to the baths then a fresh change of wardrobe. I think casual pink should be the order of preference...blue for the boys, and not too much more than appropriate showing."

"Why?" Kitten smiled, "It ain't like the bride and groom are gonna be wearing anything special."

"That may be as you say, Kitten-chan," Tsuyori chided, "But the Adults operate by different standards than the rest of us, so let's try and get into the spirit of things while we make everything ready in the temple."

"Temple?" Ranko replied, "You mean that place with the big, ugly, scary statue?"

"The Buddha with the huge dong?" Silver elaborated, then blinked as she added, "What kind of a wedding is this supposed to be anyway?"

"You'll see," Tsuyori winked, "Let's just say that you have never been to a wedding until you've seen how we Miroku manage things."

"That's for sure," Kitten leered in an ominous manner, leaving Ranko and Silver to exchange very puzzled glances that portended that something very significant was about to happen...

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Samurai Circumcisions: shadowmane

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Nabiki and Ranma (now why does that sound so familiar?), Miroku style this time, which means that clothing is definitely optional and it won't just be rice that they hurl to the married couple, so get your libido in gear and get ready to get your rocks off as we move to the third and concluding chapter of this Side Story of the "Realities Squared" series in, "Honeymoon in Mega, (Tokyo, that is)" or "Nine Inches Nailed!" Be there!

X

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	23. Chapter 23

RanSquaresSS4

Realities Squared,

A Night of Delights

By Jim Robert Bader

(Loosely Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi,  
with characters and concepts supplied by Toshio Maeda and my fellow Fanfic writers Nicole Manders and D.B. Sommers)

LEMON ALERT! HEAVY DUTY HENTAI ACTION!  
CONTAINS SCENES OF PROMISCUOUS SEX AND UNINHIBITED DEBAUCHERY THAT DO NOT INVOLVE THE USE OF A CONDOM, AND SCENES THAT MAY BE TOO SHOCKING FOR THOSE WITH FRAGILE EGOS AND TOO MUCH "CONSERVATIVE" THINKING. IF YOU ARE ALERGIC TO HENTAIS THAT INVOLVE RAMPANT LESBIANISM/ANAL AND ORAL INTERCOURSE, INCEST QUASI-BESTIALITY AND CONSESUAL SEX WITH THOSE UNDER THE AGE OF TWENTY, LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE,  
OKAY? THE REST OF US WANT TO GET DOWN AND PARTY!  
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Part Three.

Continuum #57821964

Roll Call:

Ranma Saotome -38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,  
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.  
Ryoga Hibiki -38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage to Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.  
Nabiki Tendo -38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,  
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir -Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.

Ranko Saotome -16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo -16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome -17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki -16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Moroboshi -16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome -17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,  
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.  
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji -14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.  
Lylac Tendo -17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921 Ekko Daitokuji -16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921 Tenko Masaki -17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921 Veil Morisato -16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921 Lamyra Saotome -17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi From Continuum #17046289 Kama Sutra Saotome -18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome -18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox

HOUSE MIROKU

Ranma Saotome Akane Tendo Yaku Midori Fubuki Mido Ukyo Saotome Nabiki Tendo Miyu Mido Kodachi Kuno Miko Mido Kasumi Tendo Botsasu Suzuka Ryoga Hibiki Dan Suzuka Shampoo Tendo Ranmaru Suzuka Akari Hibiki

Wulf Midori -17, green haired son of Yaku Midori and Ranma Shikari Mido -17, purple haired daughter of Akane and Miko Kitten Saotome -17, cherry pink haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma Tsuyosa Hibiki -17, black haired son of Akane and Ryoga Omake Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Ranmaru Shibari Tendo -16, purple haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Dan Koi Mido -16, indigo haired daughter of Miko Mido and Dan Shiromitsu Suzuka -16, silver haired son of Ukyo and Dan Tenshin Saotome -16, brown haired son of Fubuki and Ranma Bukotei Mido -16, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Ranma Thorn Saotome -16, green haired daughter of Kodachi and Yaku Midori Rose Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Kodachi and Ranma Achika Hibiki -16, black haired daughter of Botsasu and Ryoga Bonbori Tendo -15, purple haired daughter of Shampoo and Akane Sakura Kuonji -15, silver haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Price Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Nabiki Tendo and Fubuki Kashiko Tendo -15, brown haired daughter of Kasumi and Fubuki Kurenai Mido -15, blue haired daughter of Yaku and Miko Kimera Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Miyu Mido and Dan Kyura Saotome -14, black haired daughter of Akane Tendo and Ranma Tekase Suzuka -14, dark haired daughter of Botsasu and Ranmaru Bracelet Saotome -14, indigo haired daughter of Shampoo and Ukyo

12.

A Wedding to Remember

"Nervous partner?" Ryoga asked.

"Nervous?" Ranma retorted, "Me? Who do you think you're talking to? I laugh at death, I sneer in the face of pain and torture, I never flinch when there's danger in the air..."

"You're petrified, aren't you?" Ryoga persisted.

"Extremely," Ranma all but whimpered.

"Just keep in mind, pal," Ryoga cautioned, "This is Nabiki who you're about to marry."

"Right," Ranma swallowed, "Nabiki...sure...known her most of my life...cute girl, likes money, used to take me for everything I was worth, made my life a living hell at times before I married her sister..."

"Right," Ryoga said, "So what's there to get nervous about? You're only going to pledge yourself to her in sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live."

"That isn't helping, Buddy," Ranma groused as he glanced down at himself and the get-up that the Miroku had "talked" him into wearing (for lack of a better term), "Wouldn't be this bad if they let me wear my jacket, or even a Tux, but NOOOO...I gotta see Nabby dressed like something outta a Porno flick, and with this damned hard-on that won't go away for nothing...!"

"What are you complaining about?" Ryoga sniffed, "Most guys would kill to have a gift like that to show off to their wives. Of course, in your case, you're just as likely to scare her off..."

"Hah, fat chance," Ranma said, "Nabiki don't know what it means to be afraid. She's a regular cucumber when it comes to a crisis, and if you tell her I said that, I'm gonna pound you into the next millennium, Porky,"

"Won't hear it from me," Ryoga assured, "Besides, aren't cucumbers what they use when they don't have men..."

"Watch it," Ranma grumbled.

It was not just the fact that he was standing there, semi-nude, in the middle of a set that looked like it was straight out of a Movie, it was the number of eyes focusing on him that made the world weary Time Cop feel more than slightly out of his element, especially since most of the people watching him now were the ones who might either call him "Husband" or "Father!" A full assembly of the Miroku House's best and brightest were silently cheering him on with a silent acknowledgement from his "adopted" daughter, Ranko.

This was not exactly the sort of scenario that even a "Hell on Wheels" martial artist like him was trained to handle, or even improvise for that matter!"

"Touchy," Ryoga smirked as he thought this, "This is, what? Your second marriage, her first? Seems to me if anyone has a reason to be nervous, it's Nabiki. After all, you guys have been waiting for almost two decades to get serious, and now that you've finally put your ghosts in the past you actually have a chance to make a new life together, and she's the one who's going to be stuck with the task of domesticating your outlaw hide, so I don't envy her for that."

"You ain't helping," Ranma grumbled, "I'm superstitious enough as it is, don't jinx it already. I said I was gonna go through with this, and I ain't never going back on my word, not with all I owe Nabby for sticking by me all these years, not that I know why she'd want a guy like me for a husband..."

"You know, that's a good point," Ryoga started ticking off with his fingers, "You're bad tempered and crabby, a bit too moody and depressed even for me, you think with your fists and have a homicidal streak was wide as the Kyoto bridge. Everything you own is in a trust fund somewhere that you've left her to manage anyway, so it's not like you're instantly going to come into a big fortune...at least not one that she doesn't already control..."

"Gee thanks," Ranma grunted, "You're doing such a great job of beefing up my confidence..."

"Just doing my job as your best man," Ryoga smiled back, only to pause as the sounds of music filled the backgrounds, "Hold up a minute...I think that's your cue they're sounding."

"You call that a marital ballad?" Ranma sniffed, "Sounds more like a funeral dirge...which I guess is kind of appropriate in a way, but..."

"Hold on a minute," Ryoga tapped him by the arm and pointed down the far end of the temple, near the entrance, "You see what I'm seeing, old Buddy?"

Ranma followed his gesture and started, for there was a tall and willowy figure standing in a lacy while veil and a wedding dress that was virtually see-  
through, and yet somehow an effect of the lighting contrived to give this figure the shining glow of an angelic halo, and it took him more than a full minute before he recognized this person as Nabiki.

"Whoah..." Ranma breathed more than uttered, momentarily spellbound as the figure slowly approached him while all other eyes in the room traced her every moment.

"Nabiki?" Ryoga softly murmured as if trying to convince himself that he had, indeed, identified the right person.

Nabiki moved with stiff grace and an almost mechanical momentum, looking very much like a frightened deer that might bolt and run at any moment. She took one step, followed by another, with all the fear and trepidation of an actual virgin going to the prom rather than the confident and self-assured Lore Master-turned-  
Time Patrol Dispatcher that she had been earlier in the day. The dress that she was (allegedly) wearing left little to the imagination, and not even undergarments to conceal full view of her womanly assets. In an odd way she felt more exposed than she had when she had first entered the Miroku House totally stark naked, stripped as she was now of her air of confidence and self-  
possession. Instead she forced herself to look up at the man waiting before the altar (which was literally that, much to her increasing nervousness), a tall and incredibly handsome man who radiated virility in every pore and muscle (she could tell because much of him was showing from beneath the odd leather harness that had been made to look something like a tuxedo, complete with a bow-tie and collar (no shirt to block the view, however, nor was he wearing anything at crotch level that would disguise the massive hard-on that he had thrusting up from between his legs.

She forced herself to look at Ranma, unable to help the sensation of having her cheeks flare up crimson as a lingering guilt threatened to impede on her enjoyment. The recent memory of having been at the center of an all-girl near-  
orgy threatened to unseat what little composure was left in her expression, and it was with a guilty shyness that she saw the look that Ranma was paying to her, a look like a man who had never truly seen her before that instant. It was obvious that he had been expecting a different kind of approach from the woman who had consented to be his wife, than to wear (?) something as brazen as a see-  
through wedding dress that left almost everything of value to open and complete inspection.

It was when she saw what he was wearing (?) that her nerve almost collapsed and she would have turned and fled like a little girl scared of "The Big Bad Monster," but just then Kasumi and Akane appeared to flank her, effectively cutting off any line of retreat (and somehow Nabiki sensed that she would not get far if she tried to balk these two), so Nabiki steadied her resolve and finished her bare-foot walk down the red carpeted aisle, finally reaching the place at which the MAN standing beside Ryoga was standing, slowly looked up at him again and seeing a wonder in his face that easily matched her own trepidation.

"Nabiki?" she heard him ask in amazement.

"Ranma-kun?" she replied, acknowledging him with that single statement.

"Wow," she heard him exclaim as his eyes roved up and down her body, making it seem as if the gauzy material of her dress (?) were not there altogether. Just as questioningly she examined his powerful body with eyes that were magnetically drawn to that massive hard-on that was pointing right at her like an accusing finger. She swallowed audibly as she thought about taking that thing all the way in, knowing that it was swollen to nearly twice its normal dimensions for precisely that purpose!

"Wow," was all she could think to say, knowing full well the inadequacy of that singular statement!

"Good," a masculine voice broke them out of their mutual impasse, even as the music ended altogether, "You're both here, now we can get started."

Ranma and Nabiki turned to see Dan Suzuka and Miko Mido standing side-by-side on the other side of the altar, even as the rows of teenagers and adults lining the eye were focusing their way as if expecting the nuptials to begin at any minute.

"It's good that you both are here," Miko herself began, "You've both journeyed through a long and difficult path to arrive at this point where you both will be sealed together in the bonds of matrimonial splendor."

"Be certain and have no doubts in your hearts that you are determined to see this through," Dan warned, "Because this is your last chance to back down and leave. Continue forward and you will no longer be individuals but will belong to one another...forever."

"And just so you don't have any doubts about this ceremony," Miko added, "We are fully licensed and accredited to perform weddings within this temple, so if you choose to be married here it will be legally binding, to say nothing of having the sanction of higher-and lower-powers."

"Ah..." Nabiki looked at Ranma, then at Miko again and asked, "Can I have another look at that certificate you mentioned?"

"Just what kind of a wedding are you gonna perform here?" Ranma wondered.

"The kind that is more honest than the sort of weddings you get in other temples," Dan replied, "Here we lay souls bare and get down to the naked truth of why men and women are meant to be together...or any other sort of coupling you might care to mention."

"You have nothing to fear in cooperating with us in this place of honor," Miko assured them, adding in a sly note, "Unless it is your intent to deceive yourselves about the purposes of this union, in which case you might as well turn and leave here without question, and no hand will be raised to stop you."

"Leave?" Ranma blinked, "No way! I gave my word that I'd go through with this and I won't back down for nothing-ah...that is...unless you think it's a good idea, Nabiki?"

"Me?" Nabiki responded, "Ah...well...no...it wouldn't make much sense to turn back now, would it? I mean...we've wasted enough time as it is, Ranma-kun, and besides...I don't think either of us could go very far in the shape we seem to be in..."

"Huh?" Ranma asked, then glanced down at his manhood, "Uh...yeah...I think I see what you mean there..."

Nabiki sure hoped so because-though her own erection was far less obvious than his-both of her breasts feeling like ripe cantaloupes about to explode even as her vagina was tingling like a throbbing hotplate!

"Good," Dan said," Now, with the trifling matter of your consent out of the way, are there any here present who would object to these two getting it on here and now? Speak up or void the right altogether!"

"And don't be shy in expressing your opinions," Miko called out brightly, "The Spirits know, nothing has ever stopped you guys in the past!"

There was a long pause and utter silence in the room until a booming voice from above said, "I HAVE ONE SUCH OBJECTION!"

There were some muttered voice responding to that unearthly tone as Ranma and Nabiki looked up, almost swearing that it was the monstrously deformed "Buddha" statue that had spoken. Their surprise only intensified as Miko asked, "You have an objection, Father?"

"ONLY A QUESTION THAT I WOULD ASK OF THE ONE WHO INHABITS THE MAN CALLING HIMSELF SAOTOME RANME," the booming voice responded, "REVEAL YOURSELF NOW THAT I MAY KNOW OF YOUR INTENTIONS."

Ranma was about to ask the statue how it was he knew about the link between him and the spirit that hid within him, but before he could ask that aloud that very spirit rose up within him and called out, "WHO DARES INQUIRE OF THE NATURE OF THIS VESSEL AND MY PRESENSE?"

"I DARE!" the booming voice from above replied, "KING SIKIMA OF THE SHIKIMA, LORD OF THE SHIKIMA REALM AND MASTER OF ALL PERVERSIONS!"

"WELL MET INDEED, LORD OF DEMONS," Ranma felt his own lips form the words as they also curled into a smile that was cold and calculating, "WHAT WOULD YOU ASK OF ME ON THIS OCCASION?"

"KNOW, O'MIGHTY LORD OF DESTRUCTION AND RENEWAL, THAT YOU ARE IN MY HOUSE AS GUESTS OF MY MOST NOBLE DAUGHTER, ABOUT TO WED THIS MORTAL GIRL-CHILD WHO CALLS HERSELF A LORE MASTER. IS THIS UNION TRULY OF THEIR DESIGN...OR YOURS?"

"THEIRS OF COURSE," Lord Shiva answered, "I TAKE NO PART IN THE ACTIVE DAILY LIVE OF MY VESSEL. HE IS FREE TO DO AS HE WILLS WITH HIS OWN AFFAIRS, AND I KNOW THAT HE WILLS TO MARRY THIS MORTAL WOMAN WHO BEARS THE SOUL OF MY OWN SWEET SIVA. I DO CONSENT AND GIVE MY BLESSINGS TO THEIR UNION, AND LET NONE GAINSAY THE WILL OF SHIVA!"

"IF THIS IS TRULY AS YOU SAY, THEN I HAVE NO OBJECTIONS TO ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN," King Sikima replied, "THE MAN IS A WARRIOR BORN AND HIS LUST FOR THIS WOMAN IN GENUINE AND ALL-CONSUMING, LIKE A HUNGER...SHE BURNS WITH HER NEED OF HIS TOUCH, AND SO I GIVE MY BLESSINGS TO THEIR UNION AND URGE MY LOVING DAUGHTER TO CONTINUE."

"Thank you, Father," Miko smiled the more broadly, turning her focus back to level turn once more as she grinned and said, "Well, you heard that, people...let's get on with the wedding.

"Outstandingly delivered, my wife," Dan beamed proudly, "With your father's consent we will now join this man to this woman in holy matrimony and be witness to their sealing."

"Hah?" Ranma said as the spirit within him withdrew back to the silent recesses where Shiva normally dwelled between crisis's.

"I guess that kind of makes it official," Nabiki gulped, "I guess..."

"Wow!" Ranko expressed from where she sat next to Tsuyori and Silver, "That was sure something! Did you guys feel that as well as hear that?"

"I'll say!" Silver replied with rounded eyes, "My hair's still standing on end...what was that?"

"My grandfather...in a manner of speaking," replied Tsuyori, "Well...actually he's Kama's grandfather by blood, but mine in spirit, so it amounts to pretty much the same thing..."

Silver had a sneaking hunch and pointed at the colossally misshapen statue, "THAT'S your GRANDFATHER?"

"Of course," Tsuyori smiled, "Don't you see the family resemblance?"

"Curious," mused Watazashi as she sat beside Yuan-Yen and several others, "A full vocal manifestation of an otherworldly presence representing one of the Demon realms that are devoted to sexual perversity. No doubt, had the real Lord Sikima paid us a visit, we would all be privileged to sight viewed by very few mortals."

"Ah...would that be a good thing?" Tinkerbell asked nervously, "After all, they are, sorta, y'know...demons and all that..."

"But there are demons and then there are DEMONS," Rose replied.

"And Shikima demons are far from the worst you might encounter," Thorn added, "In fact...I'd even go so far as to say that some Shikima I've dated have been pretty good lovers, and sexy as all get out!"

"You've dated demons?" Kinko asked with very round eyes.

"Well, why not?" Koi replied, "Some are very talented and have more appendages than a normal human..."

"You wouldn't say that if you'd met some of the octopuses I've had the misfortune to date," Bukotei wrinkled her nose in disgust, "I'll take several classes of Shikima I know over some of the guys we got running around loose at our High School."

"I know what you mean," Achika nodded sagely, "All hands with thumbs and no idea on how to even undo a bra, let alone get inside a girl's panties. Honestly, you'd think with modern advances in medical technology that most human families would do a better job of training their sons on the proper methods for pleasing a woman."

"That's hardly fair," Shiromitsu replied.

"Most boys our age aren't lucky enough to have parents as understanding as ours," Tsuyosa added.

"Yeah," Tenshin added, "They're rather keep most boys our age in the dark about all things sexual, as if you could turn off the male libido like a light switch!"

"They expect most guys to learn this stuff by trial and error," Wulf added, "Mostly a trial with plenty of errors!"

Rinse listened in on this conversation before turning a questioning stare at her own companion, "You feeling better now, Tachi-chan?"

"Oh yeah," said an ecstatic looking (or perhaps that was just muscle tension?), a slight puff of smoke escaping past chapped lips, her hair on end with electrostatic tension, "Feeling no pain...in fact, I've almost got feeling restored to most of my appendages. How about you, Rin-chan?"

"Extra crispy around the edges," Rinse eyed a rather smug-looking pair of half-  
alien companions and added, "You sure we're gonna get used to this on a regular basis?"

"Hey, just look at their fathers and you tell me," Tachi nodded, "My opinion of Atari's Dad just went up fifteen points per share, and that's even taking into account that he's probably a masochist who built up his immunity the hard way..."

Lylac was rubbing feeling back into her own wrists, annoyed at the faint impressions left by the nylon chord where it had bound her a short while earlier. Ekko noticed this and smiled, "Don't worry, they're bound to fade long before either one of us gets home to answer the questions of our parents."

"I sure hope so," Tenko studied her own faint impressions, "Mom does this sort of thing with Dad all the time, but it's mostly Momma Ayeka who does the binding...she's very good with ropes, and-by the way-you're not half-bad either."

"Thank you," Shibari smiled, "I do at least make the effort to be creative."

"Oh yes," Veil agreed, "Very creative. In fact, the way you had me tied up, I could barely move at all as Tenko-chan and I dangled from the ceiling."

"Don't worry, Ly-chan," Ekko patted Lylac on her knee in an affectionate manner, "Next time you can be the one to tie me up like that, I promise."

"Count on it," the purple-haired Lylac replied as she eyed the redhead in a particularly smoldering manner.

"Now then," Miko resumed, "Saotome Ranma...do you pledge yourself in eternal union with this woman, who is to be your lawful wife?"

"I do," Ranma spoke the words before he even had time to think about it.

"And do you, Tendo Nabiki," Dan rumbled, "Take this man to be your lawful husband in all times, good and bad, that the two of you may share together?"

"I do," Nabiki responded, then blinked her eyes as if wondering who had just said that.

"And do you both consent to love, cherish and care for one another in sickness, health and incontinence?" Miko continued matter-of-factly.

"We do," this time Ranma and Nabiki said together, only to share a mutual glance that was full of open wonder.

"Do you promise to stand by one another and to give your trust and commitment without doubt or question?" Dan resumed, "Will you defend each others honor and abide by all decisions that you make together?"

"We do," this time the words came so automatically to their lips that neither Ranma nor Nabiki left any time to think about the matter, even though in the backs of their minds they replayed certain incidents in the past when a certain other Tendo sister had expressed nothing but doubts and derision towards a man who had done little to deserve it. Silently in their hearts they each pledged to make certain that no such element of doubt ever was allowed to surface in their own union, no matter the temptations.

"Then will you give yourselves to one another completely and without reservation?" Miko spoke again, "Will you share all things equally in the times to come, baring your hearts and souls to one another?"

Ranma had to smile at that, as if there were ANYTHING that he could ever hide from the prying eyes of Nabiki!

Nabiki, too, smiled fondly at that suggestion, as if her "Ranma-kun" could hide ANYTHING from her Lore Master senses. As long as she had known, him he had always been like an open book she could read at a glance, a fact not even Shiva had the power to alter, so without equivocation this time the two of them said, "I do!"

"Then let there be dissolved all barriers that currently stand between you," Dan solemnly pronounced, "Let these two be of one mind and one flesh, each an extension of the other's being in all the ways that truly matter. By the powers that are invested in us as High Priest and Princess, we commend you to be as one flesh in one body, man to woman, for so long as you both shall live."

"So be it," Miko bowed her head with a significant nod then raised her eyes and said, "You may now possess your bride Saotome, and consummate the marriage."

"Huh?" Ranma blinked, "Here?"

"On the altar," Dan indicated the marble block laid on the floor between them, "Lay your bride on the stone and do with her as you will. She is now yours for the claiming, even as you belong to her...so what the hell are you waiting for, Saotome? An engraved invitation?"

"Besides," Miko hinted suggestively, "Consummating with her is the cure for your current state of perpetual erection. Just place your rod in her slot and the swelling will go down for both of you, I promise."

"OH!" both newly married partners said as one, and then Ranma turned to Nabiki and lifted her up onto the stone as she got herself good and comfortable on the (surprisingly comfortable) stone block, parting her legs to afford him an easy access, their motions a bit more hasty than they might normally have been under the circumstances.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Ukyo squeezed the hand of the Ranma currently sitting beside her, even as her other hand was playing with his manhood, "This is just like when we got married, remember that Ranchan?"

"Oh yeah!" Ranma agreed enthusiastically, "Thought I was gonna explode before I slipped my cock in your register, and then you blew me up with that mega-  
climax."

"I can still remember the day you stood before that altar with me, Nabiki-chan," Fubuki mused to her beloved wife, who was presently sitting in her lap and allowing the blonde to fondle her with enthusiasm.

"Me too!" that Nabiki groaned, "My sister's really in for a treat this time!"

"Oh look," Kasumi smiled as she and the others strained their vision to catch every detail of what went on the altar, "He's entering her...think he'll manage to get it in all the way on the first try?"

"Who knows with Ranma," Akane said as she played with Shampoo's loins while the Amazon suckled her breasts, "He'd just better do a good job with Oneechan, she deserves to have him blow his wad in her crotch on more than the first try."

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Botsasu enthused, "My nipples are tingling just thinking about these two sharing a climax."

"Do tell," Yaku mused as she stimulated Botsasu's fat nipples between her fingers, "Well, I hope for his sake that Nabiki proves as sensitive to the touch as you, Bo-chan, even if her breasts aren't even a quarter the size of yours or mine, or even your brother."

"Hey!" Nabiki (M) called back, "I heard that!"

"That slight against the character of my wife and her most-pleasing assets demands retribution," Fubuki leered in a way that promised sexual mayhem."

"Knock it off you two," Ranmaru urged, "Save it for the reception, there will be plenty enough to go around once Saotome makes his Nabiki into an honest woman."

"I didn't know miracles like that were Ranma-sama's specialty," Kodachi mused with open affection.

Far in the back of the temple, leaning against a pillar, a slightly bored Cat-  
God of Mischief watched it all with jaded eyes, musing to himself, "Sounds like an orgy's about to break out...gee, how surprising..."

Ranma paused with his manhood only partially buried inside of Nabiki's well-  
slicked opening, caught by a curious sense of deja-vu about this happening twice in one day, first on the "Rape" machine and now inside a "Temple of Doom" set. He could see the look Nabiki gave him d felt intuitively that she knew full well the implications, but both of them were committed this far, so there was no sense in holding back in half-measures. Ranma gently eased himself the rest of the way into Nabiki then paused in amazement at being thus contained within her sheath, even as Nabiki threw back her head and made a slight groan that could either have signified intense pain or pleasure.

"You may now fuck the bride, Saotome," Dan said with surprising affection in his voice, "Good thrusting."

"May he ride you happily like the Wild Stallion that is his namesake," Miyo added, "Yield to him now and thus conquer him soul and body. We now pronounce you MAN and WIFE. Claim your release and enjoy the moment, and let no man (or woman) pull you two asunder."

"Small chance of that," Ryoga murmured faintly, thinking that it would likely take a jackhammer to pry Ranma out of Nabiki as the two began to hump together, Ranma thrusting into her loins as Nabiki gasped and gratefully received him.

"By the way," Dan added as an aside, "Stay close nearby. You're the ring-  
bearer, and I'd hate to have to hunt you down if you got lost at this point."

"Oh, no problem there," the other Ryoga replied, "Akari and I have other plans for my brother...both Akaris as a matter of fact."

"Oh yes," smiled one version of Akari, even as the other one added, "Big plans, eh Ryo-chan?"

"Both?" Ryoga squealed a bit off-key as he slowly registered the implications.

"Oh, this is so beautiful!" Ryonami honked her nose into a handkerchief, "I always knew the Boss and the Stud would make a wonderful couple...I'm sorry...I always get weepy at weddings..."

"You're not sorry that your Nabiki is marrying Saotome and might forget all about you?" Miyu asked.

"Not really," Ryonami hid a smirk behind her handkerchief, "If anything, I'm hoping this means that they'll let me in for a threesome!"

Ukyo grinned and said, "Sugar, you have definitely come to the right place for that. In fact, based on what we've seen so far, we're about ready to adopt you as an honorary Miroku."

"Really?" Ryonami asked, then glanced down as she felt the Chef reach out to fondle one of her nipples, "Oh..."

Ranma found-to his amazement-that the longer he slid his overly erect member in and out of Nabiki, the more the tension eased within him as the walls of her vagina became more supple and yielding. Then Miko placed a hand behind his back and touched an area along the back of his spine, and this triggered the most amazing reaction as Ranma felt himself unload, as though a dam were bursting loose, and then with a rush he felt his hot semen shoot into his newly claimed wife with the force of a small cannon!

Nabiki threw back her head and cried out in loud amazement as her loins suddenly filled to capacity with the warm gush of his "Man-juices," and without warning the barriers holding her back from a climax broke loose at the floodgates, flooding her mind with every kind of sensation imaginable and transporting her well beyond the limits of the flesh, causing her to hiss like a steam pipe, "YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!" as her whole body shuddered like a 7.5 Major Earthquake!

"Guess that makes it official," Ranko mused.

"No fooling," agreed Silver, who found that she was almost as excited as she had been when making out with the redhead.

"And those are only the preliminaries," Tsuyori mused, "Now the real fun begins...for all of us this time."

"Oh?" Ranko asked, "And what happens next-MMMMPPPHHH?"

Tsuyori's mouth on her lips prevented further conversation, and as Silver turned to look she found her already burgeoning excitement was enflamed to the bright embers of long-smoldering passions.

"Oh my," Watazashi gasped as she found the hands of Price Tendo playing with her nipples.

"What, again?" Tinkerbell started as she found Thorn and Rose were once again pressing their claims on her with a return of their full passionate natures.

"Rin-chan," Atari breathed into Rinse's ear, "I believe that it is now my time to screw you."

"Your ass is mine, Kuno-baby," Ryeka agreed as she slipped her arms around an unresisting Tachi.

"What's this?" Lylac said in growing alarm as she saw various parties begin to partake in some free and lascivious actions, only to recognize a certain pair of hands as they cupped her breasts, "Oh..."

"What did you expect?" Ekko leered, "When in Kyoto...eat sushi."

"Oh-YEEESSS!" Veil agreed with heartfelt enthusiasm as Tenko lowered her mouth to uncover her velvety loins with tongue and fingers, producing sensations that were altogether heavenly in nature...

"This you guys's idea of a wedding?" Kinko blurted as she found herself once more being fondled by Miroku.

"Oh no," Kimera replied, "This is the after-wedding reception, where all the guests get to take part in some communal screwing."

"Oh," Kinko shrugged, "Just asking..."

Lamyra wasn't wasting any time as she used her cunning Beast World arts to the task of pleasuring Bukotei, Sakura and Kitten, who were wondering where those tendrils appeared that sought out all of their openings for "special" attention!

"Hi," a pleasant voice purred as Akira (to no great surprise) found his lap suddenly full of a full-bodied Miroku beauty, "My name's Omake, and you're looking mighty neglected, handsome. Want to take a ride with me while your girlfriend is busy with the redhead?"

"Er," Akira paused before asking, "Is that a trick question?"

Ranko noticed that Akira was now with a different girl than before and paused to ask one of the two girls presently giving her their time and attention, "You don't mind if your big Bro does it with another sister?"

"Nope, not this time," said Silver as she happily slurped away at one of Ranko's bosoms, "Ain't no way she'll give him better head than me, and if she tries, then I'll just screw her myself until she cries Uncle."

"Now you're thinking like a Miroku," Tsuyori leered with open approval.

Toltiir just sighed, "Can I call them or what...?"

Ranma grunted as he sagged forward on top of Nabiki, then the two of them made eye contact with their faces only inches apart. In that instant they both realized that it had finally happened, that the impossible had at long last come to pass. Twenty years of denial and frustration, of wounded pride and clashing egos had finally given way to mutual fulfillment, and that they had pledged their commitment to each other in the most determined way that either of them could imagine. With his rod still buried within her, Ranma had staked his claim for the future, and Nabiki had just as warmly received him into her body, accepting him at last for her husband and that she was his wife in all the ways that truly mattered.

"Man," Ranma murmured, incredulous at the vibrant woman in his arms supporting him with her body, "I waited twenty years for this? I must've been crazy!"

"You were," Nabiki gently pointed out, "But welcome back just the same Ranma-k-  
-ah...husband?" she spoke the word with a hint of curiosity and wonder.

"Wife," Ranma responded automatically, surprised on finding he actually liked the sound of that.

Then both became aware that several girls-no, make that WOMEN-were standing to their sides with pleasantly hopeful expressions, not least of whom were three smiling Tendo sisters and a pair of one-time fianc es who looked kind of familiar.

"Glad you guys finally got down to business, Ranchan," Ukyo grinned lasciviously, "But my sisters and fellow wives want to know if we can cut in on your action."

"It's another fine Miroku tradition," Shampoo solemnly agreed, "First happy couple consummate the act, then friends and well wishers take time kissing both bride and groom to welcome them into the family unit.

"'Kiss' being a friendly euphemism here," noted Akane, "A less polite way of saying it is that we want to screw your brains out Oneechan, Ranma-kun."

"Yeah," the other Nabiki said with as much eagerness as the others, "What you guys are doing looks like so much fun that we want a piece of your action, and no fair hogging him all to yourself, Sis. I wanna chance to ride your Ranma."

"It would only be fair, considering the work we put into getting you both together," noted Kasumi, "And besides, Sister Miko wants a chance to try you out, Ranma-kun."

"Hey, don't worry, Bro," the other Ranma said encouragingly, "I won't let her forget about you while I'm humping her like a camel."

"That's supposed to reassure me?" Ranma (TC) replied, but then he felt Nabiki's soft hand on his chest and looked down at her as she smiled with a sweet expression.

"Well...after all, Ran...ah...husband," she self-corrected with a sheepish expression, "We don't want to be rude...house rules and all that."

"Don't worry about him," Miko herself said as she laid a hand on Ranma (TC)'s brawny shoulder, "I'll see you get him back in time for the honeymoon...slightly used, of course, but still ready and willing to mount you like a wall peg."

"After we take turns paying our respects, right Miyu-chan?" asked Yaku.

"Oh yes," Miyu replied, holding hands with an equally aroused Botsasu...

"Hmph," Toltiir remarked, "Looks like you finally bit off more than you can chew with that one, Saotome. Incest, polygamy, polyandry, rampant hedonism, wife-  
swapping, total carnal abandon to the earthly pleasures of the flesh..."

"All that is best in life, eh Lord of Mischief?"

Toltiir barely lifted an eyebrow as he felt another presence manifest in the space beside him, looking oddly like the female version of Ranma, but his senses informed him that she was anything BUT that.

"Going for a walk, lady of Destruction?" Toltiir wondered in idle speculation.

"I'm bored," she said, "It's all right for my brother to be sitting back and enjoying himself while his Avatar carries on in wanton debauchery and splendor, but it's looking very much like I won't be getting in any of this fun myself. It's enough to make me feel like starting a war or something just to calm my nerves and relieve my frustration..."

"Sounds tough," Toltiir replied, turning his mind back to the action and pointedly ignoring the avataric manifestation of the goddess, Kali Durga.

"By the way," Watazashi asked Yuan-Yen as the girl sat in her lap being nuzzled by the dark-haired Gymnast's lips, "How did you enjoy your outing with the boys?"

"About as much-ah-as you did-OH-'Zashi...AHHHH," Yuan-Yen moaned in reply to her lover's efforts.

"That's what I thought," Watazashi smiled, "Boys are nice for a diversion...but give me the warm comforts of your arms any day, my sweet Yuan-chan," she cooed as she planted kisses all over the other girl's chest and shoulders, only to pause as she became aware that someone else was kneeling down beside her, and with a start she gasped, "Mother?"

"Not quite, but close enough that it hardly counts," Kodachi mused as she knelt beside the two younger women, "I've been wanting a chance to chat with you ever since your first visit...and is this lovely thing your fianc e?"

"Yes she is," Watazashi replied, "Yuan-Yen is my heart and soul, my life-mate and my promise."

"How wonderful," Kodachi mused, "And...would you mind very much if I played with her a little? I'll give her right back, but I do so want to get to know a girl who is worthy of being my daughter's future wife."

"Play with me?" Yuan-Yen arched an eyebrow, surprised to find that she was actually feeling turned on at the prospect of yielding herself to an older and more experienced version of Watazashi.

"You wish to borrow my sweet pet, Mother?" Watazashi arched an eyebrow at the incredibly brazen offer.

"Oh, don't worry," Kodachi winked as she indicated two other girls that were just then joining them, dragging a slightly bedazzled blonde between them, "Rose and Thorn have offered to keep you busy so you won't get too lonely, and I believe you already know their fair-haired new friend...Tinkerbell was it?"

"Ah..." Tinkerbell suddenly sobered to the realization that she was being drawn once again to this other version of Watazashi (the woman she loved on a different timeline), and after the working over she had just received from the black and green haired versions of same, it was a little like dying and winding up in a Valhalla that was full of nothing but Watazashis! In other words, she was ECSTATIC!

"Oh my," Watazashi leered as drank in the sight of the blonde and the two other girls who looked remarkably like her, "Good answer, Mother...and quite a bargain, if I do say so, eh, Yuan-chan?"

"Hah?" Yuan-Yen absently replied as she, too, roved eyes over the stark variety of delights being presented, and suddenly she had an urge to do some exploring of her own...the elder Kodachi permitting...

"Okay," Toltiir sighed, "That's about as much of this as even I can stand..."

"Don't be in such haste, my Lord," Kali/Ranma-chan urged, "Stay a while and let these children have their fun. They've certainly earned the right to a little pleasure."

"That's not the point, and you know it," Toltiir replied, "I'm here on serious business, and I only tallied around so I could see Saotome and Nabiki get what was coming to them, but now's the time to call a halt to this nonsense so I can get back to the office..."

"Is there nothing I can do to persuade you to change your mind?" Durga wondered.

"Yeah, like there's anything you could offer me..." he started to turn around, only to blink his eyes as he saw a carnival mask covering the face of the being who just happened to presently resemble Ranma-chan, and it brought him up short with a, "...oh momma..."

Kali drew the mask away to reveal another mask that was concealed behind the first, this time of a clown face, and then Kali removed this mask in turn to reveal a different kind of makeup job that made her closely resemble a character from the Broadway play known as Cats, complete with realistic looking fur and a tail that swished in a convincing manner. She opened her lips and flicked out a tongue that uncoiled and blew a whistle-like a party favor, flicking his nose with the tassels.

"I told you I was bored," Kali replied with a voice that sounded like a sultry version of Ranma-chan, "Did you think I was made of stone that the heart of a woman does not beat somewhere inside of me? Listen," she held up a plastic version of a heart that was beating in time like a real one, and then with a wave of her hand (or paw?) converted it into confetti and streamers.

"Ah...well..." Toltiir made a pretence of looking at his watch, which resembled a big time clock that had been mysteriously strapped to his wrist, "Guess a few more minutes won't hurt, and it would be kinda rude to leave without paying our respects to the hostess."

"My thoughts exactly," Kali agreed rather sweetly...

All around the room the party-goers-turned-revelers were picking their partners and going at it hammer and tongs, Miroku style. The boys each picked one or two available girls and started banging them, irregardless if it was a sister, guest or a near relation. Lylac and Ekko were in the center of a private orgy while Tenko and Veil made divine magic together, and there was not a dry hole in the house as even the adults went at it with gusto and panache, Dan taking his turn with Nabiki (TC) after Ranma (M) abandoned Nabiki while Miko surrendered Ranma (TC) to an equally eager Ukyo, then Nabiki (M), with the rest of the girls waiting in the wings to have their turn screwing the "happy couple" (while stoking their fires by playing with one another). Rinse and Tachi finally found the space to start doing it together while their respective fellow sex-mates played a game of one-ups-womanship with one another's pussies.

Meanwhile back with Ranko, who was presently having her face be smothered in the thighs of Tsuyori while Silver's mouth worked over her loins with hungry slurping sounds that got her well and truly lubricated. She was only vaguely aware of the orgiastic festival going on all around her, but Ranko was thinking to herself that this was sure one HECK of a way to throw a wedding, and if this was the reception, then what surely would the Honeymoon have in store for her adoptive parents?

Tsuyori was delighted at experiencing the clever tongue of the redhead, and she silently complimented Ranko for her accomplished ability to "eat out" another woman, just as she equally gave "runner up" titles to Silver for the way she was giving a real tongue-job to "the red beaver." As much as she delighted in being included in their action, however, there was a lingering thought from their earlier training session that made her glad that she had brought along a "squirt" bottle for just this occasion.

So it was, as she felt her body crest on the edge of a delightful orgasm, she reached for the bottle and said, "Oh, Silver-chan..."

"Hmmm?" Silver grunted back, her mouth muffled with her tongue deeply buried in Ranko's hot snatch.

"Would you like to really bring her off good and proper?" Tsuyori said as she lifted the bottle and started squirting.

"Huh?" Silver gasped, then sputtered as she changed into her male aspect, but then inspiration caught on and she grinned, "All right! Let's do this, Sugar-  
lips!"

Ranko, of course, was not aware of this sudden change in one of her partners, but she was not long in finding out when she felt something larger and rounder than a tongue begin to probe around the rim of her hungry pelvis. With a start she found this object plunging in deep and long into her "love canal" as she instinctively accommodated herself to receive this "piercing."

Then Tsuyori removed herself from the middle of the equation and allowed Ranko to see who it was entering her from the front door this time, and when she did her eyes got round, prompting Silver-kun to say, "Surprised? Time to open up and let 'er roll, Baby!"

Off to one side a not-disinterested Akira took notice of Silver once again swapping genders to claim yet another conquests (or re-conquest, as the case might be) and for some reason he felt vaguely bothered about it, though if asked he would have been surprised that anyone would accuse him of being jealous. As the bulk of his attention was presently being taken up by a hungry Omake, however, he could do little more than fume (well...that and bury his own dick deep within her all-too-willing harbor)...

Tsuyori studied the pair whom she now regarded as her students, taking notice of the look of genuine affection that lay behind their semi-guarded expressions as Ranko stared up into the eyes of the now-masculine (and darker haired) Silver-  
kun, the two of them sharing a kind of silent embrace that had been there since their "contest" that had begun in the sauna with a mere exchange of calculated glances. There had been something from the beginning between these two, and Tsuyori was eager to see how deep this affection went. Now that it was much more out in the open she would see if these two could recognize in themselves a budding relationship as Silver went from overpowering dominance to something far more warm, caring and tender.

To be certain, they had not waited around long to take recognition of their now-  
female-to-male coitus, but rather proceeded to take advantage of their relative positions, Ranko spreading her legs wide apart to allow Silver-kun full access, and even hooking her ankles around his back to lock him into his new position as Silver-kun began to rock back and forth to generate needed friction as he probed the depths of a well-lubricated tunnel.

"Okay, Big Boy," Ranko leered as she really got into the spirit of the thing, "Show me what you've got..."

"You bet I will, Girlfriend," Silver-kun leered back as he laid a hand on Ranko's bosom while steadying himself with the other hand without missing a beat or a downstroke with his pelvis.

Tsuyori saw the way these two were sharing intimacies and things unspoken by word but expressed in volume by their bodies. They were becoming more comfortable around each other, less wary or reserved, and certainly hold little back as the desire to copulate grew stronger in both breasts. The heat that they were generating was infectious, and Tsuyori felt the urge to finger her own loins as she found her excitement growing with every moment.

Ranma (TC) was starting to wonder if he were riding on a treadmill, being asked to perform in succession with all these women. Pride and his formidable constitution notwithstanding, it was a little daunting to put his dick into one eager female "plug" right after the other, not that he had anything to complain about (the quality of the "Poontang" was certainly first rate!). Taken individually any one of these women would have knocked his socks off, including the Miroku-trained Nabiki, who not only was a match for the beauty and vivaciousness of his new wife but had-if anything-an even more liberated attitude about sex. It was Kasumi who nearly floored him when she went down on her knees and gave him a blow-job (calling it a "Morale Booster" when he seemed to be flagging in strength), but when it came to having to perform for Ukyo and Shampoo...he almost broke down in tears, remembering all too well the crushing guilt of previous years that had all but destroyed him.

Nabiki was having quite another time accounting for why she was being delighted by so many eager and willing lovers, both male and female (well...technically male if you included the Hermaphrodite named Ranmaru) and all of them incredibly talented and well gifted. She was still on the altar when the blonde-haired Fubuki made her presence known by diving in between Nabiki's legs and giving her such a reaming with her tongue that Nabiki nearly lost consciousness with her explosive orgasm. Clearly this was a girl who had a lot of practice and knew exactly what to do to rock her world, and the sensations this woman created in her were simply indescribable!

"Enjoying yourself, sister?" Nabiki heard her own voice (or rather the voice she heard whenever she listened to a play back of her own voice) above her head, prompting her to look up into the eyes of her Miroku-trained counterpart, who leered down with perfect understanding, "Fubuki-chan knows how to make your body sing, as I should know since she's been working her magic on me for the better part of two decades."

Fubuki paused in her tongue-lashing to smile up at her wife and say, "Care to spot me and put my training to good use?"

"You mean eat myself out?" Nabiki (M) grinned broadly, "I thought you'd never ask! Been a favorite fantasy of mine for years!"

"Say what?" Nabiki gasped, her voice arching sharply as she saw her counterpart settle in and begin her feasting!

"Oh man!" Ranko threw back her head and groaned as the friction continued to build between them, "Oh man...oh man...ohman-ohmanonmanomanOMANANOMAN!"

Her voice arched sharply as Silver-kun arched his back and grunted loudly, clearly experiencing a two-way climax that was nearly simultaneous, causing both sex-changing girls to rock together on the padded floor as their worlds inverted and they found their souls merging closer together. Their climax inspired Tsuyori to experience her own self-stimulated orgasm as the Miroku girl felt the waves crest and come together in the clap of a tsunami. The waves of sensualist pleasure radiated out from the couple and merged with the sea of similar such sensations echoing all around about the chamber.

"You know something?" Ryoga (TC) was saying to his counterpart as the two identical-seeming Hibikis continued to ride their respective Akaris in the classic "doggie" position, "I'm not even sure which one of our wives I'm doing this with...I can't tell them apart."

"SHHH!" his Miroku-trained counterpart replied, "Not so loud, you fool! They might..."

"Did I hear that right?" one Akari turned a smile towards the other.

"Our husbands can't tell us apart?" the other Akari grinned, "Well...we're going to do something about that...won't we?"

"Too late," the Miroku Ryoga winced, turning a glare at his companion, "Nice going Baka," then as one both men turned and called out, "RANMA, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Gee," both Ranma's replied as one, "Where have I heard that one before?"

As the waves finally crested and her strength began to ebb, Silver-kun partially collapsed on top of Ranko, but rather than spend the moment panting and gasping the vivacious redhead reached out to him and drew the dark haired boy into a kiss that was heartfelt and ecstatic. That kiss lingered on as the two continued to nestle together, Silver-kun reluctant to remove his spent "love-  
gun" from its designated holster, just as Ranko seemed equally reluctant to release him from the encirclement of her power legs. The two now seemed plainly to have emerged from their latest bout with an even greater commitment and a delight in screwing one another.

"Wow," Ranko said when at last they parted lips, "Where the heck did you learn to do that?"

"Pure inspiration, Beautiful," Silver-kun murmured back, "Just felt...I dunno...right somehow, moving my dick around in a circle by wiggling my hips and all that."

"So...who won that round?" the redhead asked.

"I think it was a tie," Silver-kun pondered the issue for a moment then said, "Wanna go for a rematch? I'll bet this time you cum in buckets."

"Hah, you're on," Ranko retorted, "I haven't even begun to milk you, big guy."

Tsuyori was pleased as she studied this duo with amorous admiration. Clearly that kiss had sealed the deal as far as either party was concerned, and though Ranko had clearly been taken off-guard by that change of tactics with Silver switching gender in mid-stride. Clearly they still viewed their lovemaking as a contest (or a "Love-Match"), but it had gone beyond the "friendly" level to something far more cooperative than either party was willing to admit.

It was mostly for show now, their mutual warrior's pride having long since given way to something entirely consensual and unquestionably spiritual-erotic. They had not really changed in respective personalities, but there was an acceptance now of the differences and similarities that made them such a stunning contrast of near "bookends." In reality both of them had won that last encounter, which was the real reason that they seemed eager to continue their love-play. If anything, now, Ranko held a slight advantage since she would be recovering her strength a lot sooner than Silver-kun's male body could regenerate spent semen, but as they mashed together their sweat-slicked bodies there was little doubt that both would rally and recover very shortly, lust and the pride of the Saotomes forbidding that ether one of them would admit to weakness even as they studied each other with such extreme intensity of unvoiced desire and passion that it was doubtful even they had any idea what was happening between them.

It was clear that-with the score tied at even-the two would be at it for quite a while, but now Tsuyori found she could no longer bear to be left on the sidelines and resolved to join in once again in their fun as soon as the opportunity presented itself, drawn as she was by her temporal sisters' most passionate exchanges.

Toltiir was busy with his own vigorous activities, but it occurred to him that things were once again moving well beyond his sphere of control, so he decided to end his diverting little romp with the Goddess of Destruction, giving her a nice send off then sending her back where she belonged in Saotome.

A quick change of appearance to something more dignified (?) befitting an Elder God about to throw cold water over a party, Toltiir cleared his throat then held up a Mega-Watt (Washu Labs Patented Pending TM) Blow Horn and coughed into the microphone end saying, "AHEM-TESTING, TESTING, ONE TWO THREE! ATTENTION EVERYONE! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE?"

Everyone froze in mid-stroke, tongue-flick or fondle to turn their heads in the Cat-god's direction.

"Thank you," Toltiir banished the blow horn then spoke with clear and decisive enunciation, "Now that I have your attention, I'm afraid I'm pulling the plug on this little party. All paradimensionally displaced youth under the age of 21 are hereby ordered back to their home dimensions, post haste, with the sole exception of Ranko, whose dimension is presently close due to chronological reconstruction."

"You're closing things down?" Dan asked as he stood with his cock buried deep within one of the two Nabikis.

"What gives you the right?" Miko asked.

"Uh...guys?" Ryoga (TC) spoke up, "He's an Elder God, that gives him the right."

"Yeah," Ranma (TC) heaved a sigh, "Saved by the bell..."

"Excuse me?" asked Botsasu, the girl into whose loins he was currently plunged.

"Er...nothing," Ranma (TC) winced slightly.

"Lord Toltiir?" Nabiki craned her head as best she could from where she lay back on the altar (after Ranmaru removed his male organ from her mouth), "What is the meaning of this? Why are you intervening directly like this?"

"Because I have to," Toltiir replied, "Somebody needs to remind you guys of the reason you got drawn here in the first place. Remember the problem with dimensional instability caused by that Lord of Chaos thing? Well, you've only partially solved the problem. The real healing of the rift can't fully begin until you guys return to the places where you were drawn, and I mean right now, not next week."

"I believe that I understand your reasoning here, Elder God," Ekko remarked, "A dimension cannot long stand without its Nexus giving it center and purpose, which means that Lylac-chan is needed in our home frame of reference."

"I am?" Lylac replied.

"I'm afraid so," Veil said reluctantly, "As long as I have known you, my friend, I have always known that you are essential to the destiny and future of what we call reality on the plane of mortals."

"In other words," said Tenko, "We need you, just as our parents will need to be reassured of our successful mission, and it is long since time that I checked in with Grandmother anyway."

"We've gotta go back?" Yuan-Yen sat up from where she was presently in the middle of a six-way sandwich formed by two different generations of Kodachi, the near equivalent of her prospective "Mother-in-law" being the nearest one to her as she straddled the older woman's lap.

"It would appear so," Watazashi sighed, turning to Kodachi, "A pity...I would like to have stayed a bit longer to chat with you. I rather think you and my mother would find you have much in common, except for a slight scar that she wears rather proudly that mars her otherwise flawless beauty."

"A scar on her face?" Kodachi arched an eyebrow, "How curious. I imagine that there must be quite a story around that."

"Do we have to go already?" Atari asked, indicating Ryeka, whom she was currently straddling, "But I have not finished putting this upstart Pirate-spawn in her place!"

"Yeah right," Ryeka growled, "I was just saving my strength for the second round...another minute and you'd be the one eating me out, Witch."

"Guys?" Rinse urged as she helped Tachi back to their feet, "Can we save this for later?"

"Of course," Tachi smiled, "You'll have plenty of chances to resolve the issue of which of you is the better lover once we return to our home dimensions."

"I'm okay with that," Tinkerbell said, giving an apologetic look to Rose and Thorn, "No offense to you guys, but...I really need to find my own Watazashi...okay?"

"Fine by us," Thorn replied, "We're just glad we could have you over."

"Of course that was just the appetizer," Rose leered, "Next time stay for dinner, and bring your Watazashi. If she's anything like this one, I'll bet she tastes delicious."

"I wouldn't mind having a crack at her myself," Watazashi mused, then when she saw the look Yuan-Yen and the others gave her she shrugged and replied, "Well, I can have fantasies too, can't I?"

"We gotta go home?" Silver-kun asked, "What a bummer."

"I know," Ranko agreed, "And we were only just getting started."

"Well, maybe next time the two of you are together we can settle this like with proper sportswomanship," Tsuyori mused, "After all, the score between you is tied, so the next time around we'll have to pick a tie-breaking contest that the both of you can agree to."

"Oh yeah?" Ranko eyed Silver in a sly and hungry manner.

"The next time, huh?" Silver-kun asked, "Guess maybe we should both train up for that, huh?"

"Yeah," Ranko said, "But next time I'm gonna do it to you as a guy and you can be the girl on the receiving end of my dick. I have that option, you know"

"Yeah, right," Silver-kun snorted, "I should let you try and mount a hot piece of ass like mine, you'll be blowing your load just as soon as you get a good look at my cute buns."

"Then it's decided," Tsuyori smiled, "When the two of you next meet it will be a contest to remember, just remember to save a piece for me and I'll be happy to train you."

"Right," Ranko and Silver-kun said, each giving the other a calculating smile that as much as promised a match to remember.

"But wait a minute," Lamyra spoke up, "My home dimension is the one we came from, which has been totally altered on account of our actions."

"Ah yes," Toltiir remarked, "The changes to your timeline are substantial, true, but you have the memories of those alterations and can function normally in both versions of your world. You now know what the consequences of what will happen should your world not have a protector to stand between the Overfiend and the Lord of Chaos. You can be the deciding factor that will determine the balance, a hero or significant player, which is what your role is naturally since you are also a Temporal Nexus."

"I...understand," Lamyra nodded slowly, then turned to her recent partners in sex-play and said, "It's been fun, guys, and I really learned a lot, so thanks for showing me such a great time."

"Sure," moaned Sakura from where she lay in a spent heap.

"No problem," agreed an equally spent Kitten.

"Look us up anytime," moaned Bukotei as she stared up at the ceiling.

"You guys are great," Lamyra smiled, then turned back to Toltiir and said, "I'm ready to go now, but...what should I wear when I go to see my parents?"

"Considering who your parents are?" Toltiir smiled, "I don't think that will be a problem."

He snapped his fingers and the green haired beauty vanished, then he smiled at the others and added, "And now for my next act, I'll make the rest of you go back to where you came from."

"What?" Silver turned to Akira, "But we're not ready!"

"Our parents are gonna kill us!" Akira protested.

"Don't worry about that," the Lord of Mischief smirked, "Where I'm sending you guys, it won't be a problem."

Another snap of his (metaphorically speaking) fingers and the room was suddenly absent by a Baker's dozen (plus one) of teenagers.

"Hey!" Ranko exclaimed as Silver vanished with Akira and the others.

"As for you young lady," Toltiir winked, "I think I'll leave you alone to your own devices, you're bound to be worth a closer study with all the mischief you've been causing."

"But what about the rest of us?" Omake complained as she got up from the floor, "You just took away nearly all of our new playmates!"

"Oh, I haven't forgotten about you kids," Toltiir smiled, "In fact, I brought along some replacement friends who ought to keep you entertained," he snapped his fingers and promptly vanished.

"Replacement friends?" Kama Sutra remarked, "How odd."

"I wonder what he meant by that," Tsuyori pondered, when suddenly all eyes turned towards movement that appeared at the far end of the temple, and through the double doors appeared a small horde of misshapen creatures of every variety of non-human bipedal creature.

"HEY, WUZZUP?" cried one of these creatures, "LOOKA ALL THE BABES! IT'S SMORGASBORD TIME! LET'S PARTY!"

"Hey!" Koi cried out, "They're Shikima!"

"All right!" Bonbori declared, "Now we can have a real workout and some heavy duty tentacle action!"

"Good thing they brought some girls along with them," Tsuyosa said.

"I'll say," Shiromitsu spotted one particularly comely looking Shikima, "That one over there looks kinda cute!"

"Dibs on the one with ochre-colored hair," Tenshin said with enthusiasm.

Ranko stared in amazement as the creatures filed into the temple, to be met mid-  
way by enthusiastic Miroku. She blinked her eyes and asked, "You guys WANT to get it on with these demons?"

"Of course," Tsuyori smiled, "Consorting with Shikima is part of the way we train in Sexcraft. If you'd like to join in, Kama and I will see to it you learn the basics."

"Besides which," the older Kama replied, "Think of it as training so you can learn some new techniques the next time you meet up with Silver."

"Training?" Ranko blinked, when all of a sudden a creature with pale green skin and a mop of darker green hair sidled up beside her and said, "HEY, BABE...YOU'RE KINDA CUTE!"

"Uh...thanks, but..." Ranko started to say when she received a mild push from Tsuyori, and before she had time to recover she found herself being wrapped in slimy tentacles before she had time to put up any defenses.

"Ranko!" Ranma (TC) started to react, only to be reassured by his counterpart, "Relax, man, they won't hurt her, and with Kama and Tsu-chan on hand she'll make out all right, trust me."

"In the meantime," Miko smiled as she lay a hand around the now-standing Time Patrol Nabiki, "We have unfinished business of our own to continue."

"Er...well..." Nabiki (TC) smiled nervously, "Of course I've enjoyed being with you all, but...Ranma-kun?"

"Ah...right," Ranma gently but firmly pried his new wife away from the side of the lady of House Miroku and said, "Guys, this has been swell, but I think Nabby and I can carry on from here, so if you don't mind, we'll be getting on with that honeymoon now...bye!"

"Nabby?" Nabiki (TC) and her Miroku counterpart said together, but before either of them could make a point of it the outline of both herself and Ranma became a blur, and then they vanished altogether.

"Hey!" Ukyo declared, "Where did they go all of a sudden?"

"Somewhere private if I have that guy figured," Ranma (M) replied, "Probably find a vacant room to shack up for the duration, and I don't suggest any of us going up there to disturb them."

"You got that right," Ryoga (TC) affirmed, "And believe me when I say, you don't want to get my partner angry, and you sure as hell don't want to cross paths with Nabiki when she's got him where she's always wanted."

"I see," Nabiki said, "Well...good luck to them, then, and I hope he makes my sister happy."

"But what are the rest of us to do without the happy couple?" Shampoo inquired.

"That's easy to figure out," Akane grinned, "We got other house guests who want to entertain us."

"You mean the Shikima?" Dan smiled, "Well...why not?"

"Can't let the kids have all the fun," Miyu agreed, "Wanna show them how it's done, guys?"

By mutual consent the gathering of the elders adjourned, and with one voice they leaped into the fray and picked their partners for the evening. Soon the juices would be free-flowing and ecstatic as Shikima and Sexcraft-trained Miroku were going at it with abandon, leaving young and old alike to rejoice in the style uniquely Miroku.

Tentacles writhed with human limbs and appendages, but whether you could call it "rape" was for anyone to speculate, especially on which side was on the RECEIVING side of that issue...

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Ointment for those "Tentacle Sores" you may be suffering at this point: shadowmane

This concludes this particular Hentai piece involving Ranko's stay at the House Miroku-but wait! We're not out of the "Tentacle Rape" forest yet! There are still more Hentai side-stories to link to this series, so if you've had "Enough Already!" do not read any further. For those of you still not satisfied that you've had enough Shikima-style action, stay tuned for, "Ranko Versus Silver, Round Three," or "How many Shikima does it take to screw in a Lightbulb?" Be there!

(Oh, and don't worry, those of you who are waiting for my more serious projects. I'm getting back to them shortly, this was just something I did to get my Racks off, in a manner of speaking. Ciao! ^_-)

Jim R Bader 08/11/00

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If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	24. Chapter 24

Well Done A Realities Squared Hentai Side Story

One needs to be familiar with the Lemon Side Stories to 'Realities Squared'  
by Jim Bader in order to have the least bit of understanding involving these second generation characters.

An idea that came to me when commenting to Mr. Bader on his work. This is nothing more than an excuse to write a lemon. ^_^. This story 'Alternate'  
look at things. These events would take place during the 'wedding orgy', if things had gone on longer. This has been written solely for gratuitous fun.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ryeka looked on with annoyance as Atari took her turn with Rinse. Currently,  
the alien girl was on all fours dining on their mutual love as Rinse lay on her back with her legs parted to allow Atari access to her beautiful purple mound. True, Ryeka was finding the 'little Princess' a bit more tolerable than before, especially after screwing the hell out of her with a ten inch dildo, but the oni was still a stuck up little snob that thought she was the one first and foremost in Rinse's heart when it was obvious Ryeka was the one more important to her dear Rinse-chan. Really, this whole marriage thing to Atari was just a case of the purple-haired girl feeling guilty at the idea of hurting the oni's feelings in letting everyone know who Rinse's true love was. That Atari was now accepted into the relationship mix was the way things were going to have to be, Ryeka told herself, but the snob was neither the most important nor the one in charge. As far as Ryeka was concerned, Atari was entitled to sloppy seconds and whatever attentions Ryeka herself would throw her way.

The moans Rinse was making as Atari lapped away at her pussy caused Ryeka to scowl in annoyance. Now Atari would probably brag about her eating out skills when it was Ryeka who was much better at muff-diving. Ryeka sighed and thought that was probably the primary problem with Atari: the Princess just didn't know when she was a distance second.

Sure enough, just as that thought crossed Ryeka's mind, Atari paused a moment from eating Rinse out and gave a brief, smug glance towards the cyan-haired girl before diving back in.

That was it! Atari was going too far! Something had to be done about the girl before she became impossibly insufferable once again. Ryeka was still considering how to do that when a decidedly male Silver-kun started passing by the group on his return from the privy. Already Ryeka saw his manhood stiffening once again at the sex scenes among the group at this huge orgy.

An idea came to Ryeka. From what she had seen of some of Silver's action,  
the girl cum guy was a real go-getter that knew how to handle her equipment in both forms. She also didn't seem hesitant when it came to putting that cursed item to use in multiple women, 'his' favorite seeming to be Ranko,  
the girl who had gotten them all in this delightful 'mess.'

Ryeka looked at the manhood between Silver-kun's legs and licked her lips.  
Very nice rod there. She began wondering if Rinse were to try some of the temporary Nannichuan if hers would be that big? After all, both she and Silver had the same parents and looked a great deal alike. There was no reason their male cursed form's equipment would not be similar as well.

The cyan-haired alien logged that bit of information in the back of her mind. There was something more immediate she had planned for Silver-kun's dick and where it should go. As Silver-kun began to walk away, Ryeka gave a low whistle to gain his attention.

Silver-kun saw Ryeka wave him over and wondered what the alien was up to.  
The usually silver-haired Saotome didn't really know the girl very well, the two having exchanged little in the way of words with one another. Most of what Silver-kun had gathered of the alien had come from her battle with her oni companion over Rinse (poor girl, Silver-kun added). Of course Silver-kun had suitors fight each other over the right to court him as well, but he made it clear that those conflicts didn't matter in the least to him and that he would choose his romantic interests as he saw fit, whether they be male or female. (Plenty of the latter, and only one of the former, her wonderful Akira-chan.)

Seeing a mischievous look in Ryeka's eyes, Silver-kun found himself intrigued, and walked over to find out what it was all about. He wondered if the alien girl wanted some servicing by him, since Rinse was obviously busy being eaten out by Atari, whose delightful little ass was sticking up in the air as she went to town on Rinse. An expert job too, judging by the moans Rinse was making at the tongue action going on between her legs.

"What did you want?" Silver-kun asked, judging the nice, firm body the cyan haired girl has as definitely being very fuckable.

Ryeka caught Silver-kun appraising her and smiled. Oh yeah, she had what it took to attract the guys, and even cursed girls. For a moment, Ryeka was tempted to test just how real Silver-kun's 'donkey dong' was, however she had other ideas for what use it could be put to.

"I just wanted you to do me, and yourself, a little favor," Ryeka said.

"Oh?" Silver-kun asked, now very interested in what the alien was up to.

"You see that nice little ass over there?" Ryeka pointed to Atari's behind.  
"I thought you might want to get a little action by taking her in the butt."

Silver-kun wasn't as na ve as so many other people in his life were. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Ryeka insisted, trying to look innocent and failing miserably.  
"It's just that Atari likes getting backdoor action. Believe me I know from first-hand experience, and I thought I'd help her to a treat from some real 'man-power' if you know what I mean?"

Eyebrows upraised, Silver-kun asked, "Are you sure it's not that you're just jealous of all the attention she's giving Rinse and you want me to get back at her by pounding her ass so that your hands are clean in the matter and your lady love won't get angry at you?"

Ryeka snapped her fingers. She hadn't thought she was that obvious.

Silver-kun considered the offer. Atari did have a cute little, almost tiny,  
behind that was smaller than either of the other two girls he had done in the butt, Ranko and Tsuyori. Not a great deal of padding there, but still a delicious sight. Silver-kun had never done an alien either. And there was the fact the girl came off as a stuck up snob, unlike the wilder and easy-going Ryeka, whom Silver-kun thought he had more in common with. Maybe riding the oni's backdoor would humble the hot looking bitch a little,  
making her more pliable for Rinse, whom Silver-kun felt a kinship with due to their common parentage.

Besides, Silver-kun had a now raging hard on that needed to be put somewhere nice and tight.

"I'll do it," Silver-kun said, much to Ryeka's delight. The cyan-haired girl thought it would be fun to kick back and relax this time while the stuck up little oni got a ride that she wouldn't be forgetting any time soon. Ryeka found herself hoping Atari wouldn't be able to sit for a while after the ride she was about to get.

Silver-kun moved directly behind Atari, dropping to his knees as he spit into his hand, then coated his rod with the saliva to help the passage of his tool as it was about 'to go where no man had gone before,' (an appropriate saying, given the alien nature of the conquest he was about to make.)

Atari was happily slurping away at her fiancee's pussy, unaware of the events behind her. Having made Rinse come once, she was tonguing her way to a second orgasm when she felt a pair of hands grab her hips and, with no preamble, an object push its way right up to the opening of her sphincter.  
Even as she felt the head of the object start to work its way past her rosebud, she turned to see who it was that dared to mount her while she was delighting in pleasing her future wife. Her first bet was that it was Ryeka,  
and if that was the case, she would be in for a 'shocking' revelation about approaching others' backdoors without permission.

But as Atari turned around she saw that it was not Ryeka at all, but rather that Silver girl in her cursed form that was parking his rod in her back lot. Atari was about to protest, but then reconsidered. The common heritage Silver shared with Rinse was obvious in the face of both the girls, and it was still clear in Silver's cursed form as well. Having Silver-kun screw her ass would be similar enough to Rinse doing the same thing. In fact, it would be something akin to heaven for Atari to be serviced by two Rinses at once.  
It was befitting someone of her illustrious heritage that she be pleasured in every way by as many lovers as she desired. She would give Silver-kun permission to do her, and in the process the cursed girl be given a small taste of the heaven that made Atari Morobishi what she was.

So instead, Atari just grit her teeth as Silver-kun made his way in rather forcefully, sinking his entire (considerable) shaft in with just three strokes. There was only a brief period allowed for Atari to accommodate the anal intruder before Silver-kun pulled slightly out, then pushed back in again, twisting his hips as he pulled, increasing the friction in Atari's nether hole.

Silver-kun was indeed enjoying the feel of Atari's ass on his dick. It was a nice tight fit that made him give slow, steady strokes as he reamed Atari's rear end. Rinse was a lucky girl to have a hot piece of tail like this after her, though Silver-kun was quite content himself with the number of romantic interests in his life. Still, the feel of Atari's tight little hole made him push the others to the back of his mind as he continued to work his way back and forth. It was with delight that he saw Atari moan at the attention he was giving her (like there was any other outcome), and Silver-kun felt his ego swell even bigger at the approval the horned alien was giving.

Atari was now fully enjoying the slow ass reaming she was getting every bit as much as the ride with the dildo Ryeka had given her earlier. Atari had to admit anal sex was proving a major turn on, much more than she had ever thought it would be, despite her mother informing her that female oni enjoyed stimulation there almost as much as their vaginas, making them more durable to backdoor action than ordinary Earthlings. Atari was definitely going to have to get Rinse to do to the same thing to her later on.

Silver-kun watched as Atari stopped lapping Rinse's loins and raised her head back in pleasure as he hit an especially sensitive spot in her rectum.  
He was really starting to get into reaming the snobby little alien's rear.  
He began adding a bit more force as he began talking dirty.

"Oh yeah, you got a nice, tight little ass here, bitch. Going to ride you like there ain't no tomorrow."

"Bitch?" Atari gasped out between strokes, her brows furrowing.

Rinse saw the all too familiar look of anger on Atari's face as she uttered that question, and immediately backed off to keep from getting caught in what was about to happen.. There was no way Silver-kun was going to pull out in time (not that there was a chance he would break off now with how much into the ride he was), so Rinse just gave a prayer for her temporal 'sister'  
that she didn't get fried too hard.

"Oh yeah, a hot little bitch to be sure." He gave a playful little slap to Atari's rear.

Atari grunted under a particularly hard thrust. Displeased by the appellation, even if it was merely said as a matter of love play, she boldly proclaimed, "It is not for a lowly peasant such as yourself, whom I have generously allowed to give me pleasure, and in so doing receive the heights of ecstasy that no other could come close to giving you, to speak to one so obviously much your better in such a manner. It is time to be reminded of your place, commoner."

"Lowly peasant? Commoner?" Silver-kun said as he stopped pistoning in,  
annoyed at the girl getting uppity with him. It wasn't like he meant anything by the remark, it was just the standard dirty talk he sometimes used with his lovers, especially when he was feeling turned on. But here this snob was referring to him in such offensive terms, and obviously not as a form of heightening arousal.

"Indeed," Atari said, and proceeded to unleash a blast of electricity that was intended to make Silver-kun's hair stand on end. Still, his skill was good, and he had given her a good ride. Perhaps if he got on his knees and apologized after he recovered, Atari would allow him access to her again.

"Look out!" Rinse shouted as she saw Atari glow yellow. She covered her eyes just in time as Atari released her jolt and the smell of ozone filled the air.

Poor, Silver-kun, Rinse thought as she uncovered her eyes. Atari was something of a prickly creature, and her temporal sister should have been a little more restrained with his mouth. Hopefully Atari hadn't juiced her companion too hard. Rinse didn't think Silver-kun would look particularly good with his hair as curly as an afro.

Rinse saw Silver-kun remain where he was, looking off in the distance slightly. Then, much to her surprise, she saw his eyes refocus intensely on Atari. With a look of raw lust he placed his hands firmly around Atari's waist, proceeded to draw back with nearly his full length out of her before ramming it in hard enough to flatten her buttcheeks against his pelvis.

"What was that supposed to do, grab my attention? Well you sure got it now,  
you are going to get it, bitch," he emphasized the last word as he rammed himself into Atari again. A good thing he had taken 'acting lessons' from Furinkan's Director, just as his father had before. Silver-kun was up to taking nearly an entire power plant full of electricity without even blinking with the sheer number of plays he had been in.

Atari gasped as instead of her partner falling backward from shock, she felt him pound her in the ass again, as though nothing had happened. No. On the contrary, he was aware of her attempt to remind him of his station and had reacted forcefully. Obviously he had impressive endurance, and Atari would simply have to adjust her amperage accordingly to get the results she wanted. Suppressing the fire she felt in her loins as he continued to vigorously work her ass, she built up a charge that was triple in strength and released it.

Lights of power flared around Silver-kun for a moment, playing across his skin. His only reaction was to laugh. "I get more action from screwing a light socket than you."

Atari was doubly outraged. Not only at this... this commoner ignoring her attempts at putting him in his place, but at the insult delivered to her love making ability. Well she would show him! She ground her ass back in answer to his brash statement, eliciting a sensuous sigh as she also unleashed another charge, shouting out "Peasant!" as she did so.

Silver-kun took it in stride, giving back what she gave in the form of pounding Atari's accommodating ass even harder. He found he had to control himself as the two fought for dominance in their coupling, lest he cum too soon. He admitted to underestimating Atari's pride, but Silver-kun was damned if he'd let this oni girl show him up. He'd have her begging to ram her as she cried out in ecstasy. He'd make her 'suffer' a mind numbing orgasm that would have her eating of his hand before he allowed himself the release to his pent up passions.

Ryeka found herself really getting turned on by the screwing/struggle between the two as they went at it like two animals in heat. Now this was a heck of a show the duo were putting on, and Ryeka was going to enjoy every moment of it that she could. Rooting openly for Silver-kun to "Teach that stuck-up snob a thing or two," Ryeka made her way behind Rinse and pulled her into an embrace, grabbing a breast and pinching the nipple while jamming two fingers straight up her purple-haired lover's pussy.

Rinse, who had been turned on by Atari's tongue, and then by the action in front of her, moaned as she found herself manhandled by her other alien lover. In response, Rinse reached back with her own hand behind her and, not to be outdone by Ryeka, stuck three fingers up the cyan-haired girl's pussy.  
The two let out mutual moans of passion as they watched the increasingly heated action in front of them.

Atari's eyes widened at the much more powerful reaming she was getting as Silver-kun refused to be humbled. Sweat began to pour off her as an unbelievable wave of pleasure built up within her loins, filling her entire being as the cursed girl increased his tempo, continuing to call her dirty names as he rammed her mercilessly. As much as Atari adored Rinse's own gentle nature and slow, easygoing (some would say shy) way of romance, there was something to be said for the commanding way Silver-kun was handling her,  
forcing (No. Trying to force, she reminded herself) her to submit to his desires. While Rinse was certainly first and foremost in her heart and always would be, Atari found a different, almost dirty delight in being mounted like a brood mare and being treated as little more than a place for some male to stick his meat in and gain relief. Still, pride forbade her from giving in to such demands easily, so Atari gave another shock in response, though it was nearly impossible for her to concentrate so much with the ride she was receiving.

Silver-kun sneered at the attempt to force him to back off again. Deciding to up the ante, he gave Atari's ass a not so gentle slap, the sound of the smack mixing in with the lighter noise of pelvis meeting ass.

Atari felt a thrill run through her as hand met flesh. When she was little,  
Atari's parents had to punish her regularly for misbehavior (Aunties Benten and Ran had assured little Atari that her mother had been no better at that age) and a great deal of spanking had been involved. Later on, they judged her too old for such simple castigation to work and resorted to other forms of punishment. It had been years since her bottom had been handled in such a manner, and certainly she had never felt turned on as she did right at this moment from the way Silver-kun was manhandling her slim pair of buttocks.

Feeling her ass tighten around his cock and hearing the soft moan that followed, Silver-kun stopped forcing his way into her rectum and brought a finger down to Atari's mound. He was delighted to find her even wetter than before. Sensing she was being indeed being further turned on by his administration of 'discipline,' he swatted her hard in the backside again and demanded, "Who's your daddy, bitch?"

"Ataru Morobishi," Atari grunted out in answer to the bizarre question.

Luckily, Silver-kun was buried up to the hilt and couldn't facefault.  
Instead, he sighed and gave Atari another, hard swat. "I meant who does your pretty little ass belong to?"

"Rinse-sama," Atari answered.

Silver-kun conceded the point. "Fine. But who else does your ass belong to?"

Atari felt a thrill of anticipation run through her, knowing what was to come as she said, "Certainly not some vulgar plebeian such as yourself."

She received an even harder smack to her butt for her defiance, just as she had hoped (stunned as she was to admit the desire for the spanking). It was amazing how turned on she was getting by the 'abuse' her posterior was receiving. She only hoped Ryeka would not find out about this unexpected turn on or Atari would never be able to sit down again.

No longer could Atari deny the heretofore unknown desire to be submissive to another. Silver-kun's displays of lust and domination were arousing her immensely in ways she would never have anticipated. While it was true had Rinse placed such demands upon her, Atari would have submitted herself freely. But her purple-haired lover would never have done such things; it was simply not her way. But not so for her temporal sister. It was not that the cursed silver-haired girl was being cruel or sadistic, just that she obviously desired to be in control and calling the shots when it came to being satisfied by Atari. And the oni girl was finding her resistance to such treatment decreasing by the moment, her attempts to bring Silver-kun 'into line' being completely ineffectual as she found herself completely at the young 'stud's' mercy.

Off to the side, Ryeka and Rinse were likewise reaching the boiling point as they watched on in eager anticipation of the events unfolding before them while they played vigorously with one another. Under different circumstances, Rinse might have felt jealous of Atari being mounted so ruthlessly by another, but instead she felt turned on. The purple-haired girl knew Atari would not leave her side no matter how well Silver-kun performed, and there was something thrilling in watching one of her new lovers have her needs fulfilled by another (leaving Rinse to watch on in voyeuristic fascination.)

Matters were reaching a crux. The built up conflagration in Atari's loins become a raging inferno that she wanted to give vent to but could not. She knew somehow that despite the intensity of the need to orgasm within her,  
that there was something missing. Something that Silver-kun had to do to make her climax perfect, all but making her his in name as well as in deed.

Silver-kun felt himself ready to burst, but likewise held back from releasing his load into the attractive receptacle before him. To Ranko, he could tolerate losing (not that he was going to) but to this little stuck-up (but admittedly very beautiful) piece of femininity he would be victorious.  
With trademark Saotome stubbornness he refused to lose. Pulling out all the stops, he gave Atari one last, hard smack on her rear, leaving a red mark where his hand had made contact. He could tell from the way the girl trembled that she was being increasingly turned on by his brusque treatment of her, even if she wouldn't admit openly it. Her very body betrayed her true desires, and it wouldn't' surprise him if the spanking was what would drive her over the edge. He reached forward, remaining buried in Atari's ass as he grabbed her pert, firm breasts. He squeezed them roughly, like kneading dough as he tweaking her bullet-hard nipples with his fingers.  
Through clenched teeth he hissed, "You're mine, you cocky little tramp. Come for me now."

Atari barely had enough control left to stammer out, "N... never, peasant,"  
and tried yet another ineffectual shock which only served to make her lover drill her ass more. A soft cry escaped her lips as she felt herself nearly at the edge, and it took nearly all of her remaining restraint to keep from pleading with Silver-kun to do it right and make her his 'bitch'.

Silver-kun had had enough. It was time to show the Princess she was in over her head (besides, his balls were ready to explode from the need for release). Now he was going to give it to her so hard she wouldn't be able to sit for a week by the time he was through with her if she didn't submit to him. He released her breasts from the rough treatment he was giving them.  
Then, seeking a better hold with which to drive himself into her ass,  
grabbed onto her horns and pulled backward just enough to tilt her head upward instead of down.

"Say... it... right... now!" Silver-kun punctuated each word by bringing his dick almost all of the way out before driving forward hard again, making the muscles of her ass ripple from the force of his penetration.

Atari's eyes opened as wide as saucers when she felt Silver-kun grab her horns and pull back. That single move, the one she had been waiting for,  
opened the floodgate as he made her his by fucking her hard and issuing his demands. The words poured from her mouth as she shouted out. "YES! YES, I'M YOURS! I'M YOUR BITCH! FUCKMEFUCKMEFUCKMEFUCKME!"

And as Atari at last submitted herself completely to her lover's demands she came hard, the orgasm crashing upon her with the strength of a solar storm,  
sending her clear over the edge of the precipice and almost never to return.  
She felt her a veritable flood of fluids roll from her pussy and down her leg as she came so hard she lost the strength in her arms to remain on all fours as Silver-kun released his hold and she practically crashed her chin to the floor.

Off to the side, Rinse and Ryeka shared in the climax of the heated scene as their mutual stimulation caused them to cum simultaneously, each crying out in pleasure over one another almost as loudly as Atari just had.

Silver-kun was nothing short of astounded by Atari's sudden about face in submitting so completely to his will. For a moment he missed a stroke, then felt Atari's ass tighten around his dick as she came in a wave from his buried rod. That was enough to send him over the edge. He managed one more stroke before nearly exploding as he blasted pulse after creamy pulse in the oni's beautiful ass.

Atari's synapses overloaded with wave after wave of sensuous pleasure as she felt Silver-kun release his cum into her, bringing on a second orgasm on top of the first. The world seemed to go white as she went over the edge into the abyss of a multiple orgasm. An oni multiple orgasm, which even Ataru Morobishi had learned to fear as much as desire when pleasuring his wife,  
Lum.

A huge jolt of super charged lightning arced through and out of Atari's body, electrifying the air and shocking all those around (especially the one inside) her.

Rinse and Ryeka felt themselves fried as though they had been the ones'  
riding Atari, each of them knocked flat by the discharge. Rinse felt her hair curl again from the voltage, 'afroing' her once again. It seemed even she couldn't escape destiny.

A small puff of smoke escaped a swaying Silver-kun's lips. It appeared he had ended up as 'Well Done' as Atari, though in different ways. "Whoa! I felt that one." He pulled out of Atari's ass, his dick making a soft 'popping' noise as it left its tight sheath. He managed to get to his feet,  
barely as he felt light-headed from the tremendous amount of voltage and staggered around for a full minute before regaining his bearings.

By the time he recovered, Silver-kun saw that Akira and Ranko, no doubt drawn by all the noise, had made their way over. He was about to say something when he heard Atari moaning softly, her delightful little backside still upturned in the air. He lightly rested his hand on it, and gave a gentle squeeze to his new 'conquest'. "Now you know who 'the man' is, you hot little fuck," he smirked, thinking Rinse was a lucky girl for having such a satisfying piece of femininity at her beck and call. Silver-kun wondered if her temporal sister would thank her for helping to break Atari in.

The oni Princess in question, who at last regained consciousness, returned to her own footing and stood next to Silver-kun. She looked at him, seemed to consider something, then said, "Very well. I accept. But I insist we keep such attitudes in the privacy of our bedchambers, or whatever space is available to us when you pleasure me again, Darling."

"Darling?!" Rinse said as she came down from her own orgasm, her attention suddenly riveted to Atari. That name had been reserved for Rinse and Rinse alone. Now that the oni girl had suddenly decided to give that name to Silver-kun as well, it didn't sit at all with her. She shot the cursed girl a suspicious look, which caused Silver-kun to cringe slightly. Even he knew firsthand the wrath of an angry Saotome.

"Oh no, dear Rinse Darling," Atari soothed as she allowed her hand to caress her lover's face. "You misunderstand. You shall always hold the coveted position of first spouse, now and forever. Silver is simply my second spouse."

"Second spouse?!" Silver-kun said in a surprise that matched everyone else present, save for Atari.

"Of course. I accepted your proposal," Atari said in exasperation.

"I didn't propose to you!" Silver-kun shouted.

"You most certainly did," Atari insisted. "You clearly and willingly grabbed my horns, which as everyone knows, is how you propose to an oni." She gave him a satisfied smile.

"Where do you get off proposing to my fiancee?" Rinse said accusingly to her 'sister'.

"But I didn't kn-" was all Silver-kun got out before Ranko decide to get involved.

"You jerk!" Ranko shouted, removing Silver-kun out of Atari's grasp by grabbing the one body part on him which would guarantee he would follow.

"That's not detachable!" Silver-kun said in a high voice as he found his dick handled quite firmly (and not at all pleasantly) by the shorter redhead.

"You just got to stick your cock or tongue in anything with a pussy, don't you?" Ranko spat, showing clear signs of jealous anger.

Silver-kun wondered what was happening with the unexpected display from her former lovemaking partner. He also decided playing it tough would NOT be a good idea given what part of his anatomy was currently in Ranko's possession. "Not at all, Ranko-chan." He hoped a combination of flattery and his own inherent charm would get him out of the situation.

It didn't.

"Yeah, right, you egotistical womanizer," Ranko spat, the jealousy a more common trait on her biological mother rather than her father. "If you wanted to marry a girl, why didn't you propose to me instead?"

"But I didn't propo... what was that?" Silver-kun asked in surprise.

Seeing everyone else also looking at her, Ranko felt herself turn cherry red at the declaration from which she had no idea of where it came. "I didn't just say that," she maintained confidently.

"Yes, you did. I heard it quite URK!" Silver-kun started to say before finding Ranko's grip tighten.

"No, I didn't." The tone Ranko used made it clear she would brook no argument.

"But it's not my fault!" Silver-kun protested. "Ryeka was the one who came up with the idea of screwing Atari and talked me into it, really. Tell them," she said to the cyan-haired alien.

Seeing all eyes turned to her, Ryeka held her hand up to her chin in thought. Her forehead furrowed in concentration for a moment before she held a finger up, as though having remembered something of great importance.

"Can't say as I recall having a conversation about that." Ryeka shrugged.

"Liar!" Silver-kun protested as all eyes turned to him once again.

Once the attention was away from Ryeka, she smiled. She probably should have admitted the truth, but watching Silver-kun squirm was SO much fun.

Sensing he was in for it now, Silver-kun silently mouthed "Hot water," to Akira, who himself seemed to have a narrowed his gaze towards his half-sister. However, upon the request, Akira seemed to brighten as he agreed and walked off.

Ranko's jealous anger seemed to drift away from her as she said indifferently, "I really don't care who you propose to. Do whatever you want." Silver-kun was quick to discover that whereas Ranko's mouth said one thing, her tightening grip on his manhood said another. Silver-kun suspected the jealousy actually stemmed from the 'proposal' (which he had NOT given)  
as opposed to the screwing around bit, of which Ranko would not have cared overmuch.

Sensing her new 'fiancee's' distress, Atari moved closer to Ranko. "Don't damage my second spouse's assets. I find that part particularly useful." The oni said it in such a manner as to directly challenge the redhead. The challenge was met as the duo's eyes locked and they stared evilly at one another.

Silver-kun's eyes nearly crossed as he felt the grip tighten further. "Help me," he gasped, his pleas falling on deaf ears as Ranko and Atari engaged in a test of wills and Rinse continued to scowl at the cursed girl evilly.

He was about to give up hope, when Akira suddenly appeared with a tea kettle. "You're a life saver," Silver-kun breathed as Akira poured the contents over his half-sister's head. Much to the cursed boy's irritation,  
all it did was make him wet.

"That was cold water," Silver-kun said in surprise.

"Oh dear, I must have grabbed the wrong one. Looks like you're screwed,"  
Akira said without a hint of sincerity in his own voice.

Silver-kun nearly cried as he saw a series of angry stares leveled his way.  
Even the Miroku were wisely staying out of this one, watching on in amusement to see exactly how things turned out. Silver-kun raged at his ill fortune, though he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. It appeared the old Saotome luck when it came to romantic interests was holding true to form, which meant it was going to take an extraordinary amount of luck if he were going to come out of things with his dick in the same general shape as when it started out.

Sometime there was a high price to pay for getting a good piece of ass.  
Silver-kun just hoped his account was big enough to handle the 'checks' that were about to be cashed in.

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . All previous chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works.


	25. Chapter 25

RanSquaresSS5

Realities Squared

(Side Story 5)

Epilogue:

"Where were we, then?"

by Jim Robert Bader &amp;  
D.B Sommers

WARNING: CONTAINS SCENES OF A DIRECTLY LIBIDINOUS NATURE INCLUDING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT NATURE BETWEEN CONSENTING TEENAGERS IN A FICTITIOUS SETTING, WHICH MEANS THAT IT'S LEGAL SO LONG AS THE READER IS OF AN AGE MATURE ENOUGH TO HANDLE THE DESCRIBED IMAGES HEREIN CONTAINED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Continuum #57821964

Miroku House:

Tsuyori saw that Silver and several of their other houseguests were about to depart to their home dimensions and decided that she had to act if she was to insure a safe return of at least one of her favorite players. The chemistry between Silver and Ranko was so obviously strong that it would be a shame to leave matters unresolved at this point, and with every chance that they would be seeing each other again, a little extra "insurance" would not hurt to much, so...surreptitiously and unnoticed, she reached down to her pelvis and stroked herself until she found a sufficient quantity of her own secretions to cover her fingers, then "oh-so-gently" brushed some of this onto Silver's hip, then a few others whom Tsuyori thought might need a push, and this before the cat-God Toltiir waved an arm and dismissed these teens back to where they had come from.

Though nominally human, Tsuyori was part Kitsune fox, (although not yet a nine-  
tailed Kyubi like her full-blooded sister, Sakura), but she also had long association with her half-Shikima older sister, Kama Sutra, and as such she had acquired a good portion of "Shikima" influences that filled her body with the rich hormones of demonic sexual arousal. Her Cum, therefore, had "Shikima-like" properties and could instill powerful "nymphotic" qualities in anyone who had a "sample."

Tsuyori smiled a bit sadly as she watched Silver go, wanting another crack at the vivacious platinum blonde, but knowing that she would have to abide until such time as the fates brought them back together. Of a certainly Ranko was missing her with her expression of deep longing, and since she was the one with the time-traveling pendant, Tsuyori rather would have bet those two would be cumming together once again before too much time had elapsed. Until then...well...Tsuyori hoped her little "gift" would be a nice primer to insure that Silver kept in shape and practice for wherever she wound up in her home dimension...

Continuum: #46972185

Furinkan High School Lockers/Women's Showers:

Yuriko Kuonji had stayed late during practice for the Volleyball team and was now showering herself down in the nearly deserted lockers. She was preoccupied as she soaped and lathered her tan, lean body, giving special attention to her generously endowed breasts, all the while her mind on someone else, a particular classmate who had of late become the central focus of much of her private musings.

[Damn that Silver,] she fumed silently to herself, [She goes off on yet another heroic quest, taking Akira-san with her, and naturally has not a care in the world to spare for anyone else. One of these days, I swear, she is going to go too far, and then...and then I will find a way to pay her back for my humiliation!]

Unbidden her mind traveled back to an occasion that was all too vivid in her mind, having happened only a few weeks in the past when she and Silver had been the unwitting victims of one of Gel's meddlesome little "pranks." That damned half-Chinese bimbo had gone and gotten them both struck with one of her potent little aphrodisiac concoctions, and with the predictable result (Silver being male at the time) of the two of them getting highly...**distracted**...for the better part of two whole hours!

In her defense, Yuriko was not exactly in full possession of her wits when this had happened (neither was Silver, but that was an entirely different issue, she insisted!), but how far could that denial stand up to critical examination given that it was a ...HIGH PLEASURABLE experience...and one that had seemed both mutual and natural at the time with recriminations following only after the event. It did not exactly impress on her much confidence in her own sexuality, an issue that was very raw and sore with her, given her own rather **unique** origins.

For Silver it was no big deal, the baka was used to making "conquests" with women who succumbed to her (or his) considerable charms. Yuriko could understand the power and allure Silver had on those who found the cocky blonde charming and attractive, yet having known her all of her life, Yuriko would have thought herself immune to those none-too-subtle powers of persuasion that allowed Silver to get away with so much that others would not have found so charming. Yuriko knew what sort of person the young Saotome heir was like, and yet still she found herself lapsing into the pattern conformed to by far too many of their classmates. The platinum-haired girl could practically walk on water (Yuriko knew, she had seen Silver do it, only it was more like running very, very fast) and acted like she could do no wrong, but in truth she was just an outrageous flirt with an ego the size of a large mountain, and she had little regard for anyone else's feelings, taking advantage of a girl's virtue without any regard for her personal desires to save her virginity for someone **very** special!

[Damned egotistical, muscle-headed, cock-sure, sex-changing Hentai-Pervert Superhero wannabe!] Yuriko mentally growled while scrubbing her smooth skin with a soap bar, [Runs off like it was another stupid training mission, and she never even thinks of taking me with her...] Yuriko paused in her silent rant as she wondered where **that** last bit had come from. As if she'd want to play tag-along on one of Silver's adventures, having had enough of those in the past few years of their **unfortunate** association...

The fact that she-Yuriko-had given her body to another girl who could turn into a boy-WHEN she was a boy, no less!-called into serious question any protestations or pretence on her part that she was in any way different from her mother, Ukyo Kuonji. In spite of many denials that she was in any way the child of her parents, it now seemed as if Yuriko was indeed very much like her biological father, Ai Konjou, who was openly and admittedly bisexual and lived a **most** unconventional lifestyle, sharing a restaurant with Yuriko's biological mother. Yuriko did love and care a great deal about her parents (even WHEN they were driving her to distraction), but years of having to explain their relationship to her friends in conformity-minded Japanese society, she had come to feel a strong sense of embarrassment, which led her to want to appear (at least on the surface) to be "normal." Being a martial artist schooled in both "Combat Cheerleading" and Okonomiyaki-style cooking martial arts was unusual enough by the standards of most people...Yuriko DID NOT need the hassle of having friends suspect her of being a closet "Hentai!"

This was part of the reason why Yuriko had gravitated to studying under her Aunt Crepe Suzette, chief rival to her mother, who had never treated Yuriko as anything less than a "special" kind of person. Her Aunt was the only one who seemed to genuinely understand her, ignoring the fact that Yuriko (and her little sister) was the product of Jusenkyo-style magic. Suzette had taken Yuriko under her wing and taught her a different style of cooking and fighting that allowed Yuriko to find some much-needed "breathing room" and establish her own identity as independent of her parents. (True, in effect she was also doing this to spite her mother, but after some of the ego clashes they had had over the last few years, it was just another way for Yuriko to affirm to herself that she was nothing like her mother...or her "father" for that matter!).

But now that had to be taken into serious reconsideration if she-in truth-  
really could feel attraction to another woman...ESPECIALLY one as brassy as Silver! It was all well and good to blame it on Gel's potions, but how much of what happened between her and "Silver-kun" was a genuine product of their own feelings? That was the thought that tormented her now, when alone to her thoughts and left to reflect on the weird direction that her life had suddenly taken.

How much could she protest of her attraction to Silver? They had known each other most of their lives, almost from childbirth, and had clashed over the years as sparring partners or sometime companions. Yuriko resented the way Silver could seem to blithely flow through life with a feeling of invincibility, as though she could do no wrong, not to mention the way that Silver (who often protested that Martial Arts was NOT the most important thing in her life) never seemed to lose a major battle. The fact that Silver was also an incredibly vivacious beauty (in EITHER form) made it hard to compete with her, ESPECIALLY where it came to attracting the attention of other boys in their school, PARTICULARLY where it came to one particular fellow student who had strongly drawn Yuriko's interest of late.

Namely a boy by the name of Ryo Hibiki.

Yuriko looked down at her water-slicked body, wondering just where she could have been found in default when contrasted with Silver. Did she lack anything for exotic looks or personal beauty? Were her breasts any less well-formed and shapely, her legs being long and well curved, her body lean and athletic and her features possessing all the classic elements of a ravishing beauty. Her long blonde hair, even more lustrous than that of her "father," gave her as much of an attractive air as Silver herself, surely! Why then couldn't she attract Ryo's attention like Silver, who was plainly more interested in Akira?

[Damn you for being so charismatic, Silver!] Yuriko silently fumed, [Why, if you were here now, I'd give you hell for what you've done to me you...Pervert!]

PLOP!

The sound of something striking the wet floor registered on Yuriko's awareness, as did a disturbingly familiar voice that slowly complained, "Ow! Somebody should have told me about the rude landing...and who left all this water running?"

No...it couldn't be! That voice was unmistakable, but for that person to be here and now would mean...

Very slowly Yuriko turned around to see the masculine form of Silver-kun pushing up off the floor with a very surprised, "Where am I...YU-CHAN?"

Yuriko did not reply, for Silver-kun was utterly naked, having clearly converted to male form in the cold water that was inexplicably left running. As Silver-  
kun looked up in surprise at seeing her, Yuriko further got a look at the rest of him, including an entirely MALE erection as a nine-inch male member stood up to attention.

"What the hell?" Silver-kun exclaimed as he started to get to his feet, "I'm in the girl's showers? Hooboy...I'm sorry about that, Yu-chan. I don't what...oh yeah, I get it now! Very funny, Ha-Ha! That Toltiir guy is a real stand-up. Ah-Yu-chan?" You okay? Say something!"

Yuriko knew that she should say something in response to this situation but-  
oddly-found that she could not. The sight of Silver-kun's male body...or-to be more exact-that MALE member that was mesmerizing her attention, paralyzed her. Thoughts of doing something about it-yelling, screaming, calling Silver names and chasing the Pervert out of the shower sprang immediately to mind, yet somehow she could not think of doing any of those things as she continued to stare at Silver's MALE body. She had none of her weapons, nothing but her hands and feet to use in her defense, could only fall back on her martial arts training to defend herself in her admittedly vulnerable state, and yet she was held rigid by some strange force beyond her understanding. All she knew was that she was staring HARD at Silver-kun's HARD and glistening naked body, upon which cold drops of water were running down his skin over muscles in a surprisingly aesthetic manner. Staring at this body affected her in some way that was wholly inexplicable, and it was all Yuriko could do to stay where she was without locking her knees together and fainting.

"Er..." Silver-kun could not help noticing the way his friend was looking at him, and a glance down showed why as he was sporting another (?) inexplicable hard on, no doubt a delayed reaction from all the screwing he had just done in both male and female aspects. This prompted him to say, "Ah...sorry about this, guess I kinda caught you by surprise, heheh. Didn't mean to shock you or nothing, just, ah...well...I guess I should be going, huh?"

Yuriko still did not reply, and Silver-kun realized that he should make a hasty exit before his friend started making a fuss. Oddly enough, though, he found himself reluctant to move, and as he stared back at Yuriko he started to take notice of the fact that "Yu-chan" was naked...VERY naked, and with water running down her smooth and well-sculpted body. It was very hard not to notice the way Yuriko's long yellow hair was plastered to the contours of her perfect form, or the swell of Yuriko's nipples as they started to stiffen, even as she appeared to flush slightly as her breathing became more irregular and ragged. In fact, looking at Yuriko was having a similar effect on his own body, one that made his already stiff erection harden even more as his eyes roved up and down her long and leggy body.

To say the least, he found Yuriko...very intriguing...

Yuriko was finding Silver-kun EXTREMELY intriguing, though she was at a loss to say exactly why, not knowing about the presence of "Shikima Juice" on the tall boy's person. Body chemistry and heat had combined with the steam in the air to create a subtle, almost undetectable perfume whose aroma had by now reached Yuriko's nostrils, activating a hormonal reaction all too typical of young women who encountered Shikima for the first time ever. The pleasurable sensations that normally deadened a woman's natural inclinations to fear and panic in the presence of a demon (thereby making them far easier to arouse and seduce with the infamous "Shikima Tentacle Fetish" than would be the case in a "normal" setting) were working here to dull the reflexive battle senses of even a highly trained martial artist, and Yuriko was finding her pulse quickening as desire replaced any rejection she might have thought towards seeing Silver-kun this way, and in such a compromising situation!

Silver-kun was similarly unaware that his state of arousal was partly to blame on Tsuyori's little "prank," sharing a portion of her own "cum juice" to stimulate Silver's sex drive so that he/she would react to the sight of the first attractive person whom he encountered. As Silver would have freely admitted that he found Yuriko VERY ATTRACTIVE under even the most normal of settings, he found himself becoming highly aroused at the mere sight of his lifelong girlfriend. Any thoughts he might have had about the strangeness of his sudden desire for her was smothered in the hormonal soup that flooded his mind as the Miroku influence began to take hold over his sensibilities, making him rise (in both senses of the word) and approach the moisture-slickened blonde with no thought at all but the desire to SCREW her silly!

Yuriko similarly found any objection that she might have raised under the circumstances had evaporated like smoke on a breeze, but she had the presence of mind to notice that Silver-kun was about to step into the path of the hot water overhead nozzle, and without even half-thinking about it she reached over and turned the handle off, thereby insuring that Silver-kun would remain male as he approached her.

"Yu-chan," Silver-kun said in a husky voice as he reached out to place a hand to the tiles at the side of her head as Yuriko leaned back against the wall and stared at him with eyes that were extremely doe-like, "You look great...and you smell so nice..."

"I do?" Yuriko wondered at the thrill that passed through her then at the compliment she was given, hearing in it the confirmation that she was indeed desirable, and VERY MUCH A WOMAN!

"Oh yeah," Silver-kun pressed his body in with his other hand cutting off any path of escape that she might have contemplated (not that Yuriko was intending to go anywhere at the moment!). He stood poised with is manly form only inches away from her, his heat radiating to fill the space between them with his entirely masculine presence. There was not even a hint of the girl-side in Silver-kun's regard of Yuriko, and yet the thought of what his look portended made her shudder with mingled dread and anticipation, her breath catching in her throat as she waited for him to make the first move, which was not long in coming! (Nor was she, she rather fervently was hoping...)

With one strong and well-callused hand he stroked the side of her upper arm, all the while maintaining eye-contact, then cupped her face and tilted his chin to insure that she would look up at him rather than avert her stare at the last second (as IF!), then brought his mouth down to hers and passionately kissed her.

That kiss was like electric fire that sparked up and down Yuriko's body, filling her with a warmth that at once burst into a flame of full fledged desire. She felt the rounded head of his manliness press up against her belly and unselfconsciously reached down with a hand to caress that upturned rod between her fingers, savoring the hard-ribbed "muscles" beneath the smooth sides of this shaft even as one finger played over the tip, discovering as she did a sticky substance that responded to her gentle pressure. At once Silver-kun responded by placing his other hand to the side of one of her firm breasts and caressing it gently, then fondling and squeezing it as though to test its ripeness. Yuriko moaned at that and began to run her hand up and down his manliness, all the while marveling at the flavor that greeted her mouth as she felt Silver's tongue thrust into her...a flavor that oddly tasted of honeysuckle and cinnamon, a flavor that she found altogether arousing!

It did not occur to her to wonder where that flavor had come from, or to ask if maybe Silver-kun had been dipping his tongue into someone else's "honey." What she did know was that she WANTED him more than any other time that she could remember, far more than when under Gel's concoctions! It was this desire that made her guide his hand to the moistened opening between her legs. Silver-kun felt and implicitly understood what was expected of him from this point onward and immediately lifted Yuriko up by her hips to position her against the wall where their groins would be level, and then with one good push forced his way inside her.

Yuriko only grunted slightly as she felt nine inches of hard manhood violate the sanctity of her loins, the way too well lubricated by now to offer more than token resistance. Silver-kun pushed and positioned her hips until he achieved full maximum penetration, then slammed his pelvis into her as Yuriko took him all the way gasping slightly at the mild discomfort, which vanished rapidly as Silver-kun pulled out part-way, then rammed his rod home again, giving Yuriko a thrill as this second penetration went in even more smoothly than the first. Her loins reflexively clamped down around him, and then Silver-kun began banging her in earnestness as he slowly built up a methodical yet powerful momentum.

[OHYEAH!] Silver-kun mentally thought to himself as he got seriously down to the business of riding his "Yu-chan," delighting in the wonderfully warm caress of her loins about his as she gratefully accepted each thrust, getting more and more into the spirit of her ride as Silver-kun hammered her into the wall, Yuriko's bare legs flapping in the air as her whole body shook with each and every piston-motion.

It was so delightfully sinful, doing it this way in a nominally public place, the chance of discovery and/or exposure eminent should the coach or one of the teaching staff (or even a fellow student) should turn up right there and then to catch them in the act of flagrante delecto. Silver-kun would hardly mind yet another scandal laid to his doorstep (unless, of course, it should draw the attention of his parents) but Yuriko would have minded tremendously having herself be found out this way, doing a GUY in the showers (and never mind what HER parents would have to say about it!), and so the threat to her was very real, and so was the guilty sensation of doing what was (at least nominally) forbidden!

"Oh yeah, oh man, this is good!" Silver-kun grunted as he began to ride the helpless Yuriko like there was literally no tomorrow, his rod now sliding in and out as if he were seeking to pump oil (or, at the very least, was expecting a gusher!). He opened his eyes and saw Yuriko's lovely face flush with total desire for him, and her heated pants as she breathlessly cried, "OH YES-OHMY-  
-ON YEEEEESSSS! OH, COME ON STUD, DO ME! DON'T STOP, FASTER! OHYEAAAAHHHHH!"

In an amazingly short span of time Yuriko came very suddenly, the grinding impact of Silver's crotch hairs scrubbing against the swollen clit of the other girl and providing just the right incentive that Yuriko needed. Her body spasmed and convulsed around Silver, momentarily creating a minor suction around his loins, which was all it took to send the fully aroused Silver-kun over the brink of his own orgasm as he felt his loins tighten and convulse, then shoot a wad like a gun into the middle of his girlfriend.

To put it mildly, Silver-kun was amazed that he even had any semen left after the frolicsome escapades that he had just experienced with the Miroku (and a certain hot little redhead he could not help but mention to himself). For Yuriko the suddenly WET sensation in her loins was an unexpected added bonus to the tremendous swelling tide of full-scale "pelvic juicing" swept her over the edge into a blissful world of wild, carnal ecstasy, and she reflexively reached out with her hands to grab Silver-kun by the neck so that she could compel him to kiss her once again. Silver-kun responded to the kiss (and his orgasm) by losing his balance and falling towards the floor, yet somehow managing to land on the bottom so that Yuriko could land upon him without surrendering her purchase. Yuriko smiled, now fully into the act of screwing Silver, and relishing the fact that the "Top" position gave her more control over the action. From here she was able to guide his penetrating member into the exactly right position where the rod could brush up against her most sensitive nerve-  
endings along the inner lining. This had the effect of re-inflating Silver's loins to renewed hardness, and of firing up the heat in Yuriko's loins as she brought her legs into the proper position, then began to hop up and down on him until they were going at it again like there was no tomorrow.

For Silver-kun this was an especially good position for staring up at the amazing sight of Yuriko "bouncing" up and down, her full breasts moving in accordance with the laws of physics to provide a MOST eye-catching attraction. As he felt his rod go up and down inside of her, he found his eyed studying the blonde girl's features as Yuriko seemed flush with delight and incredible passion, her intense desire plain as day as she took him in and gave him back (a little), this time taking their sweet time until-an eternity later, though most probably no more than eight minutes-he came a second time inside "his Yu-  
chan!" Yuriko did not quite experience an orgasm herself at this point, but the feeling of Silver-kun's "second cumming" was no less a delight as it flattered her feminine prowess.

But then Silver-kun reached up with both hands and cupped Yuriko's bosoms, smiling up at her as he said, "Now I'm gonna show you how it's really done, Bitch."

Such crude terms-which normally would have offended Yuriko-only served to intensify her desire for a climax, but as aroused as she was she was taken completely by surprise when Silver-kun flipped her over and pressed her to the tiled floor, grinning lasciviously as if this time intending her real mischief!

"Love doing you as a guy," Silver-kun gloated proudly, "But I'm too pooped to pop a third time...no problem, though...I know how to get some real stamina to screw you royal!"

And with that Silver-Kun stretched up one leg and hit the hot-water faucet, turning the handle on so that it shot a stream of still-warm water over both of their bodies, immediately transforming the dark-haired young man into his platinum-haired aspect.

Yuriko's eyes got very wide at this, and had she not been too overcome with lust to put up even a token struggle she might have protested. She was (as she rather loudly proclaimed) NOT A LESBIAN like either of her parents! She wanted to seem "normal" before the rest of her classmates, and what Silver was intending here was exactly the sort of thing she had been so steadfastly working to avoid since puberty first made her aware of these "special" stirrings!

But Silver-chan never even gave her the chance to utter a protest as she dove down with her face and buried her lips into the blonde muff of the helpless chef's daughter. Yuriko almost immediately arched her back and uttered a gasp that was half-exclamation, for Silver's tongue was roving over her clit and circling around it in a way that was calculated to drive any woman CRAZY! She thrashed on the floor as Silver continued to tongue-stimulate her, then brought that supple member further down Yuriko's yet-moistened slit and plunged unhesitatingly into the "honey pot," which was presently full of "cream filling," the sum mixtured contents of both of their loins during their previous climaxes.

If Yuriko had ever harbored any doubt that another woman could pleasure her, those doubts were dispelled utterly within the next five seconds. She not only CAME into Silver-chan's mouth, she EXPLODED with rich jism rich in fructose (and other natural flavoring agents), rewarding Silver's tongue with the delightful taste of delicious vanilla extract!

The sound of Silver-kun slurping happily away filled Yuriko's ears as she slowly drifted down from whatever cloud to which her mind had been transported by her cumming. She stared dull-eyed at the ceiling and panted freely, hot water pouring down over them without being too scalding, the heat within her body so intense that her loins felt like a raging inferno, and her heart was beating like a staccato triphammer. Her whole body had clenched with the force of her orgasm and yet Silver-chan had not even missed a beat or a tongue-stroke. It was as if the platinum blonde, half-Chinese girl were getting off on the taste of her own male semen mixed with Yuriko's juices, and it took a while before Silver seemed willing to surrender her lock-hold on Yuriko's loins, pausing only long enough to slide herself up Yuriko's body so that she could plant a full frontal kiss on Yuriko's mouth and share with her this exquisite flavor.

To Yuriko's complete astonishment, the flavor of her own juice, and Silver's, caressed her tongue and caused her appetite to swell like a throbbing member. Then Silver-chan broke her kiss and said in a wry voice, "Now it's your turn, Bitch...prepared to have your first real taste of pussy!"

Now Yuriko's eyes did widen a bit in panic. No way! Shouldn't couldn't! Silver had to be joking! Yuriko couldn't do THAT with a girl! Not like the way her mothers would go down on each other in the middle of the afternoon (when they thought "little" Yu-chan wasn't looking!). That had always seemed so...disgusting and maybe a bit painful (her folks she made enough noise while doing it that Yuriko had thought it some kind of special brand of torture). But even as these objections formed in her mind, Silver-kun got up and turned off the showers once again, then knelt down and positioned her loins over Yuriko's face, slowly lowering herself until Yuriko could not avoid the press of the other girl's bush all but smothering her features!

"Now," Silver-chan cooed, "Do it just like I'm doing it now, Yu-chan..." and with that she bent down and began to tongue Yuriko's clit. The blonde gasped as her resistance immediately crumbled, the very effort of trying to breathe forcing her to move her lips over and around the fleshy pink folds of the other girl's labia. To her increasing amazement, Yuriko found a new flavor greeting her taste buds, and without taking the time to think twice about it she stuck her tongue up to lick a sample, then plunged it further into those loins as her hunger renewed itself, drawn by the intriguing taste of wintergreen and sweetened lemons!

Silver gasped as she felt Yuriko's hesitant first licks become more emboldened tongue thrusts and buried her own face in the blonde's golden "fur," plunging the tip in deep to probe the depths of Yuriko's "clam shells," sucking down on the "oyster" as she was rewarded once again with the flavor of cum mixed with semen as Yuriko's legs rose and parted to afford her a better purchase, the blonde's feet curling with the delight of twin sensations greeting her own mouth and her loins at the mouth of Silver.

This went on for quite a while until Yuriko-gathered by some intuitive sense of what was needed for her to fulfill her task, struck gold as she hit the right combination of nerve-clusters, sending Silver-chan all the way over the edge so that the platinum blonde filled the golden-haired blonde's mouth with a rush of translucent "Silver." Yuriko came a short time after this as Silver's own efforts yielded paydirt, and then they writhed on the floor together for several long moments as the sounds of their groans mingled with the slurps of two hungry wildcats drinking the "cream" of living saucers.

But at last their lust (and the Shikima influence within them) ebbed as satiation allowed them the time to recover their bearings. Silver got up off of Yuriko and smiled with happy enthusiasm, then said, "Wow...that was something! Good fuck there, Yu-chan, you're one of the best, and I really mean that! Nice to see you keeping that tight little ass of yours in shape, you're a first-rate piece in my book. Well, fun's over for now, I guess...it must be getting kinda late, and I'm gonna catch it with my folks if I don't hurry home soon. You take care of yourself until the next time I decide to screw you, and don't worry, it's just between you and me. Anybody else asks, it never happened."

With that Silver-chan got up and left the showers, leaving Yuriko to pant and gasp on the floor in a state of near-total exhaustion. She knew that Silver was headed for the lockers (where she always packed a spare Cheosong for "emergencies," and would be heading back to her parent's house long before Yuriko had the strength to crawl out of the showers.

Very slowly she came down from her high as cold realization hit her. No longer affected by the rush of female hormones, she could think clearly again and have a semi-objective perspective of everything that had just happened, and the conclusion she came to was like having a freshly cooked okonomiyaki tossed into her face.

[SHE DID IT TO ME-AGAIN!] Yuriko mentally declared in horrified amazement, [She jumps me and leaves me gasping! Only this time she did it to me as BOTH a GUY and a GIRL!]

Her thoughts in disarray, her self-conception once more exploded for a myth as the equally cold realization that she had ENJOYED eating out Silver, in ADDITION TO THE HUMPING, made any weak protestations of innocence on her part a flagrant lie, and one this time that even she could not swallow (though she certainly HAD swallowed a substantial amount of Silver's "love-juice!). The very thing she feared the most had come to pass...she had been left exposed as the daughter of her parents!

[CURSE YOU, YOU SILVER-HAIRED WITCH!] Yuriko mentally fumed, [I'M GONNA GET YOU FOR THIS-I SWEAR IT!]

Exactly what the form of the "revenge" she was contemplating at that point even she had no idea, though had anyone asked they would have gotten a "Baker's Peel Smash" to the head for their troubles. But for now Yuriko had to work on the basics, like getting feeling back in her legs as her loins continued to tingle and her breasts continued to swell like a pair of ripened melons, hungry and desiring to be "sampled..."

3.

Akira had been wondering about the type of day he had so far been experiencing when he manifested inside his family house and (much to his astonishment) in the bathroom no less, right outside the furo which (much to his intense relief) was currently absent of occupation. The tub was full however, and someone was obviously about to make its use, which meant he would probably be best served by not getting in the way of whoever intended on making its usage, but...well...there were two very strong reasons for him to rethink this line of reasoning...

The first being that he was naked, and the second being that he smelled...pretty randy, even by his own modest standards. Hardly surprising given the activities in which he had just recently been engaged, but he doubted very much that he could account to his mother-let alone his grandfather and aunts-the reason for why he was smelling like he had just come out of a brothel.

Then, of course, there was the nagging problem of finding some clothing to wear while traversing the hallway. It would have been nice had Lord Toltiir sent along his personal effects when he dismissed Akira and the others to their home dimensions, but...somehow Akira doubted if the Elder God of Mischief was all that worried about the dignity of his nominal charges.

He was still trying to ponder this when the door to the furo slid open, and in stepped Kiri, herself naked but for the towel she had wrapped around her upper body. Akira turned a dismayed look towards his nominal Aunt (actually two years younger than himself, and a Senior in High School), too shocked even to cover his privates (or the present erection he was sporting, which had him inexplicably at "half-mast" for all the screwing he had been engaged in during the past several hours) which prompted Kiri to stare first at him and then down at his waist level, her expression frozen in fascinated dismay as the two of them stood silently like that for the space of a full minute, no word escaping either one of them as Akira tried to think of a good explanation.

Unfortunately his mind could only form with thoughts of his Aunt and how good she looked wearing that towel, a line of reasoning that faintly horrified him for all that it was causing his half-limp member to remember its manners and stand up to attention. Kiri could hardly help noticing that even as Akira found his eyes traveling up and down the length of her supple body.

To say the least he was horrified...and turned on more than he could have ever imagined!

"Ah..." he managed at last to say lamely, "It...not what it looks like..."

Just then he heard the voice of his Aunt Kurume coming from just outside the corridor as she found Kiri standing in the doorway to the bathroom and said, "What wrong, Kiri-chan? Don't stand around all day blocking out the facilities-  
-OH MY!"

Akira did not even wait to see the expression on his older Aunt's astonished face but dove right into the furo without even waiting to suds and wash himself down, as was proper. He had covered his ears when Kiri started screaming, knowing better than to look up, which would only compound his current dilemma.

That was fifteen minutes ago, and now, and now-after thoroughly washing himself down to remove all trace of body odor (or the mingled substances that coated his flesh) he began to think clearly once again, and his hard-on (thankfully!) faded to a more normal state of inaction. Try as he might, however, he could not rub away his sense of embarrassment at having disgraced himself before two of the Tendo women. He was effectively trapped where he was for the duration, and without a reasonable alibi could only look forward to a stern lecture when news of this incident (inevitably) reached the ears of his mother!

Still and all, it was preferable to explaining why he had sweat, pussy juice, even his own semen decorating his body. THAT was NOT an explanation that he looked forward to presenting in any short order! Physically he was clean, just a little bit exhausted (okay, A LOT exhausted, are you happy?), but taking into account all that he had been through of late this was hardly to be remarked at.

After all, he'd helped to save the universe, not to mention had more sex in one day than he had enjoyed in his entire life...even more great sex than many studs ever encountered. Visions of "The Wedding" (followed briefly by "The Orgy") at House Miroku would be permanently etched in his mind like the pornographic frescos that some Archeologists had uncovered at Pompeii. Other men might brag about indulging in their wildest fantasies, but he had just done it, not to mention bore witness to an all-out melee of writhing limbs and writhing bodies with men, women, hermaphrodites, even part-demons filling every opening that could be found in the house.

Perhaps by far the most unforgettable sight of all had been seeing his MOTHER (or rather a version of his Mother who was native to the Miroku dimension) acting like a sex-starved harlot, happily engaging in some serious "muff-diving" with her face buried between another woman's legs, while herself being mounted from behind by a blonde woman who had somehow managed to project an organ from her own clitoris that was expanded and shaped like a rod as large as his own male member. At one point Akira had even seen his "mother" cast a hungry look his way, a predatory smile on her face, which had come damned near close to making him go limp on the spot (in spite of the best efforts that he was just then receiving from another one of the Miroku).

Considering what a prim and proper woman the Kasumi Tendo who had raised him had always seemed, this was utterly shocking. His mother had always seemed to be the epitome of restraint and self control (well...all except for that one passionate weekend that she had spent with Akira's "Uncle" Shampoo-kun, the occasion upon which Akira now knew he had been conceived, though this remained a deeply buried family secret) and to even think of his mother as having a sex drive was more than Akira was mentally prepared to handle.

He could tell himself now that it was just the way things were done in that other world, a world where historical events had turned out VERY different from that to which Akira was accustomed, when it was his Aunt Ukyo-not Shampoo-  
who had wound up becoming the primary wife of Ranma Saotome. A world in which Ukyo had been raised by the Miroku and trained in their arts of ritual Ninjutsu-  
like Sexcraft, and through her had formed a group marriage that included all three Tendo sisters and the rival fianc es of Ranma, not to mention members of another Ninja clan called the Suzuka. The Kasumi there had lost all inhibitions under the influence of a Miroku woman named Fubuki, and so it was hardly fair to contrast this radically alternate version of her mother with the one who (very shortly he feared) would be lecturing him for his "shockingly improper" behavior.

To say the least he was NOT looking forward to that moment, especially since he did not know how he would be able to look his mother in the face and tell her that he had just had sex with his own younger half-sister!

"Knock, knock!" a voice called out as the door to the furo slid open, "Is it safe to come in already?"

"Very funny," Akira growled, in no mood to have to endure the taunting of his younger cousin, Tarou.

The dark haired boy entered anyway, not even bothering to hide his trademark smirk as he held an armload of clean and freshly folded clothing in his arms, along with a clean bath towel, "Just checking to make sure. I heard you tried to rape Aunt Kiri, and you can never be too careful."

"What, you think I was going to try attacking you?" Akira almost snarled, a very rare display of temper on his part, "And for the record, I did NOT attack Aunt Kiri."

"Hey, whatever," the arrogant boy said as he set the towel and clothes down by the sink, "Don't go snapping at me, sheesh. Can't even take a joke? You really must be up to something, Cuz."

"I'm not up to anything," Akira snapped.

"That's not what I heard according to Aunt Kurume," Tarou smirked rather brazenly, then he shrugged and said, "No skin off my nose if you got a hard on looking at Kiri. I'm a little more puzzled how you wound up down here without any clothes, man...what happened to you? Did you get jumped and robbed by your adoring fan section?"

"Very funny," Akira sighed, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Cousin."

"Probably not," Tarou replied in a way that was almost philosophical, "Of course, nine will get you ten it was Silver who put you up to this."

"Silver?" Akira blinked his eyes with a start, "What makes you say that?"

"Because I know you, Cuz," Tarou shrewdly pointed out, "You're a straight shooter and you wouldn't hurt a fly it if was biting you on the butt, so any time you step out of line there's only one reason I can think of...Silver. That sex-changing Tomboy ain't nothing but trouble, and I think you're a real masochist for hanging around her as much as you do."

Akira had to concede the point, though he was damned if he would admit so aloud to Tarou. The younger man was a sharp character who saw and understood things in the cold light of his own cynical perspective. Though Tarou wold have denied it outright, Akira also knew that he had a thing for the younger girl, a fascination he tried to hide by posing himself as hostile to her interests. He was about the only male to have such an attraction whom Akira (to the best of his knowledge) believed had not actually once gone to bed with Silver, no doubt because Tarou would have found admitted to such an attraction as a sign of weakness.

"Anyway," Tarou turned away as if not even bothering to wait for a denial, "Aunt Kurume thought I should bring you some clean clothes so you won't upset Kiri any more than you have. She's on the warpath as it is, so I'd stay away from her if I were you. That is...unless you really do mean to screw her, in which case I say; 'Go for it.' It'll probably improve her disposition."

The door to the privy slid shut as Tarou made his exit, leaving Akira to fume in relative impotence (metaphorical and not literal, which-he had to concede-  
was a part of his problem).

How very different this young man seemed from the boys he'd encountered in the House of the Miroku. One particular encounter sprang to mind as he thought upon the courtesy displayed when Akira had used the common showers to clean himself up between a round of sex and getting ready for the Wedding between a very different version of his Uncle Ranma and Aunt Nabiki...

Akira had been tired even then, having gone all-out with at least two Miroku girls (following his ride with the Paratime gang on "The Wheel of Ecchi," and subsequent orgy in that limbo-like dimension). He had wanted to clean himself up and hoped that he would have some relative privacy and not be bothered by any other of these sex-crazed Ninja women...at least not until he was cleaned up and ready. To his relief he found one of the MALE Miroku was just then exiting the shower, one of the older boys with green hair and a very muscular build. It took Akira a moment to put a name to his face (a task far easier to perform with the men rather than the ladies as the poor guys were so badly outnumbered) and then he nodded as he pleasantly hailed this hardy looking fellow.

"You're Wulf Midori, right?"

The green-haired boy nodded affirmation, "And you are Akira Tendo, if I am not mistaken."

The two bowed to one another. Wulf finished toweling himself off as Akira stripped and started commandeering another shower. Rather than leaving, Wulf sat down on a wooden bench off to the side. The Miroku showers had no walls, allowing one to see everything happening within (small surprise there). Despite this, Akira felt no hesitation as he began cleaning himself off before another man who was examining him intently, though not with obvious sexual intentions.

"Tsuyori told me about you," Wulf mentioned as if by way of making light conversation.

"Ah," Akira didn't know what to say to that, given the things he had already done with the girl, like blowing his load in her, and keeping in mind that this boy was half-brother to the comely Miroku girl.

Wulf laughed, a deep sonorous thing. "Don't feel awkward about balling her. Lord knows I've done it more times than I can count. She and Kama are probably the most talented girls of our generation here. She'll show you positions that you didn't even know existed and the heights of ecstasy few could comprehend."

"You've got that right," Akira agreed, feeling at ease with the shorter and younger man. There was a more serious air about him than many of the other Miroku offspring.

"Calling it a night? Wulf asked.

"Yes, though quite a night it's been," Akira said.

"I can imagine," Wulf mused. "Still, from what I've seen and from what Tsuyori's told me, you, your sister, and that Ranko girl have a lot of raw talent. You did the best job any non-Miroku could hope to do here. You can take satisfaction in that."

"Oh, I'm satisfied," Akira admitted, "Very satisfied." Of course Silver had a lot to do with that. And so did Ranko. And Tsuyori. And Sakura. And Bukotei...

Curious about this person whom he found so easy to talk to, Akira said. "So Tsuyori's told you a lot about us?"

Wulf nodded, "Tsuyori and I are close. She and Kama are the ones I get in the most trouble with, so I'd say we're closer in some ways to each other than some of the others. Small surprise considering we're the three oldest."

"I know what it's like to be oldest," Akira said whimsically.

"Greater responsibility to those younger than you," Wulf agreed.

Akira laughed. "I'm definitely the oldest one around in my generation of friends. I'm even older than one of my aunts."

"That's not happened here yet, though I suppose it's only a matter of time," Wulf commented, also feeling a kinship with Akira. Most of the non-family men brought to House Miroku usually ended up so busy there wasn't time to talk, "I'm the oldest male child here. It's a rather unique position and one of the reasons I tend to be close to Tsuyori and Kama. When I turned fifteen, we were the ones that ended up celebrating all day together, if you know what I mean? It was incredible. Believe me, you never forget your first, even here."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Akira agreed.

"Was Silver your first?"

"Technically, no," Akira admitted. "Actually, Tsuyori wasn't my first either. My first time was when I went to a party with a girl named Ryoko Unryuu-Kumon. I ended up drinking way, way too much and went to a room to lay down and pass out. As I was laying there on a bed, barely conscious, Ryoko staggered in. I was only dimly aware of her opening my pants, and since it was so exhausting to even keep my eyes open, I didn't have the strength to resist her when she sat down and began riding me. I don't remember much after her first sitting on me. Couldn't even tell you if I came or not. But I still remember it as my first."

"Not ideal circumstances," Wulf admitted.

Akira suddenly became a bit agitated as something occurred to him, "Whatever you do, don't tell Silver. She'll rip Ryoko's still-beating heart out of her chest if she ever found out."

Wulf seemed a bit skeptical, "Even after all of the service you got from here? If nothing else, wouldn't she just want to fuck the hell out of this Ryoko to get back at her like she did Tsuyori when she screwed you?"

Akira shook his head, "You don't understand. Ryoko is probably the one person Silver hates the most in this world." It was true. Despite the nonchalance Silver would show towards some people, like Melina Bogard or Gel Kuno, and downright antagonism towards others, like Akira's own cousin, Tarou, she always seemed to find some excuse to help them out in their times of crisis. That willingness to help others hostile to her was one of the things he had always found attractive about her character. At least everyone but Ryoko, and Akira thought he knew why

It operated on several levels. Over the course of the last year it was becoming obvious that Ryoko was the only one of their generation who was keeping up, and at times surpassing, Silver's rapidly growing martial arts abilities. Their personalities were actually a great deal alike, though each would beat the hell out of anyone that dared voice such a sentiment. Unlike Ranko and Silver, whose similarities seemed to compliment each other frighteningly well (something that was becoming more evident over time) Ryoko and Silver mixed as well as oil and water. Even when Akira tried to persuade Silver to get along with the girl, she had categorically refused and was so angry at the suggestion that she gave him the cold shoulder for several days before he managed to get back in her good graces by presenting her with a single red rose. A pity he had forgotten it was pink for friendship instead of red, though perhaps his subconscious mind was telling him things his conscious mind didn't recognize even then.

The last, and by far most important reason, was that Ryoko was one of the few girls that had managed to pique Akira's interest. He had gone out with her several times at her insistence, and had found himself enjoying her company more than any other girl he had gone out with. Her own interest in him was openly much stronger, and she had made it known on their second outing (which he still adamantly refused to call a date), that she was willing to do anything with him. However he was reluctant to take things too far, though at the time he was uncertain why.

Unlike the other girls that hit on Akira, which Silver tolerated only to the very mildest of degrees, he had shown some interest in Ryoko, and that made Silver seethe with an anger few had beheld. The first confrontation they had after Ryoko foolishly preened about going out with Akira had resulted in a mutually vicious beating and the destruction of several buildings. Things would have ended up much worse had Akira not intervened and all but ordered them to stop if they ever wanted him to spend time around him again. The threat had worked, but just barely. And still the two had a bad tendency to brawl when he wasn't around.

Before this whole adventure, if someone had asked him whom he liked more between the girls, he would have shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know. But now that he thought about it, he knew damn well who it had been. Had always been, in truth. He began to wonder what it was he had seen in Ryoko at all. Not that she was a bad person, despite what Silver would contend, she was actually very nice to others, but those qualities which Akira had at one time found so appealing about Ryoko now held no interest, no excitement, for him. Thinking about it, he realized most of the things about Ryoko that fascinated him were mirrored in Silver. If anything, they were even more obvious in the Saotome girl, who was a far more passionate person than Ryoko, and tended to be more open and extreme. Very much her like her mother, in that respect at least!

Silver was a creature of extremes. Extreme physicality, extreme caring, extreme cockiness, extreme passion, extreme love for others. A rough exterior sometimes hid those traits from others, but not to Akira, who had known her all of her life. He knew all that anyone could about the real Silver Saotome, maybe even more than her parents.

Perhaps his hesitation at admitting his feelings for his life long companion had been all that stood between them until now. Perhaps he had been even afraid to care, fearful that the relationship they already had would come to a permanent end should things not work out romantically, like he has seen in some many other friendships that had tried their hand at romance instead. Perhaps he had even been afraid to love her, for if he admitted such to both her, and after he had braved giving himself unto that whirlwind of passion that made Silver Saotome what she was, that she would refuse him and leave Akira with nothing but a shattered heart and bittersweet memories.

But that had all been put to rest that first wonderful time they made love in that other dimensional limbo. They had connected and he had known in that moment they came together that all of his fears were for nothing and that she had loved him deeply and truly for so very long, perhaps her entire life, in one way or another. He too felt the same way. They were committed helplessly to one another. That they were related was problematic, but to others, not to them. They knew what lay in their hearts. Matters of blood were ultimately irrelevant when it came to that.

"Seems like you've made a decision between the girls," Wulf said with a smile as he watched the various emotions play over Akira's face until at last he came to a decision, "Don't know about that Ryoko girl, but Silver's a good choice. Once in a lifetime woman to some men, like you, I'm thinking."

"Oh yes," Akira agreed with a smile, his heart even lighter than before, "She's one of a kind."

Wulf let that knowledge to settle with Akira, and allowed him to revel in the remaining weight that had lifted from off his heart now that he had a chance to figure out exactly what had happened to him during the course of his adventure. But still, Wulf knew from his conversation with Tsuyori, as well as what he had witnessed during the orgy, that there was a new factor involved that Akira might not be fully aware of.

"Have you considered this newfound relationship with Ranko that has seemed to formed between them?"

Akira shook his head. Any fool that had been near them would have felt...something between them. An intangible something, but something nonetheless. The mutual looks of attraction they had for one another, each one becoming more intimate the longer they shared their flesh, and perhaps their souls as well. Akira could not be certain about Ranko, but it was quite possible Silver was consciously unaware of it, a trait picked up from her father, that. He had been famous for not knowing what lay in his heart until it was nearly too late. In some ways Silver could be equally as blind as well. But like her own father before her, deep in her soul she knew the truth, and it would have to be confronted sooner or later once it made its presence consciously known.

The "dilemma" (if that was what it was) had been pushed to the back of Akira's mind, either from the sexual activity he had been treated to, or perhaps simply because he didn't want to consider what might be a threat to his now blossoming relationship with Silver. But it was there, and he had to admit to himself while it was in these early stages. The question was what should he do now? Try to break it off before it became too deep (for it was obvious during their last bout of lovemaking the bond was already deep), or allow it to blossom and hope for the best? Three peoples' hearts were on the lines, and what course would Akira take among them? In some ways, it was all up to him.

Seeing the look of painful indecision on Akira's face, Wulf decide to help things along. He cleared his throat to gain Akira's attention, "There's a rather unique saying among the Miroku about this sort of situation. After all, we tend to be more open-minded about this sort of thing than other are, and have dealt with it. Interested in hearing it?"

Akira nodded his head.

Wulf regarded him in all seriousness, "We say, 'It takes a great man to allow himself to truly love two women, and an even greater one to allow those woman to love one another.' It applies the other way too, actually. Do you understand its meaning?"

Akira thought about that. It did fit perfectly to his situation, almost as though Wulf had made it up just for him, but the serious look he gave Akira ruled that out. He thought about the situation. Akira was by nature a giving person, much like his mother who helped others in what ways she could. He liked making others smile through his actions. He tended to avoid fights, though would confront wrongdoing when it presented itself before him. He loathed it when he hurt others, though no matter how hard he tried it still happened. No one was perfect, not even him.

But this was different. This was about him, and more specifically, about him and Silver. He had never shared himself with another this way, giving his heart to them like this. What if Ranko severed that newfound bond in forming her own? What if Akira's fears of rejection came true and he would be discarded while Ranko and Silver stayed with another while he was left behind? He wasn't sure how he would react, but it wouldn't be good, that much was certain. Not good for him or any others around him, for now that he knew the bond between him and Silver, he wanted to protect it no matter the cost. He had found a part of him that made him feel whole, and he had not been fully aware of how incomplete he was.

But there was soft, vulnerable, beautiful Ranko to consider. She had led such a painful life full of much misery and with little in the way of happiness. How would she react to discover this first intimate bond she had formed with another should be severed so quickly? She was obviously a caring and compassionate person, growing up strong in character and morals despite the awful life fate had dealt her. It took a strong person to not allow hardship to make them callous and insensitive. She had overcome all of that and become a person that interested and attracted Akira, in similar, yet different ways to Silver. But if this connection she possessed with Silver was broken off, especially abruptly, it might frighten her into avoiding future relationships, perhaps even to the point were she would prefer the lonely existence she had led before rather than chancing such pain again. It might even change her character, allowing her to become the bitter person she never had before. It probably wouldn't, but in matters of the heart, few things were predictable.

That wouldn't be fair to Ranko. She deserved to have some happiness, and only the lowest of scum would allow her to be hurt after knowing all that she had been through, aside from the risk she shared with the others in saving another universe. She should be rewarded with the risks she had taken without a thought for her well being to help others. Akira didn't, would not be the person to do that sort of thing to someone else. It was wrong.

But what about Ranko's relationship with Silver? What did Akira really think about that? Now that Akira considered it, he was stunned to learn that, unlike when he thought of the men in Silver's life, he didn't feel the least bit threatened about Ranko. And once he truly pondered the question, he suspected he knew why.

The first time he had seen Ranko naked and bound to that wheel, an offering to him and him alone, he had been nearly overwhelmed with a surge of lust that he had never known existed within him. It had actually taken a moment to bring his passion under control and to keep from mounting her like an animal in heat then and there. It went beyond a desire to dominate another: such a thing held little appeal to him, nor was it to show off his 'manliness' before the other girls mounted on the wheel: he lacked that sort of ego. It was a desire to have Ranko for herself, a woman so much like Silver yet different in so many ways at the same time.

He hadn't been aware of those similarities the first time he set eyes upon her in the Saotome household, though he had taken an instinctive liking to the girl, which was one of the reasons he had not protested Silver's inclusion in their ranks, and had agreed to go along to look out for her well being. It had taken traveling with Ranko a while before he understood what sort of person she was, and only because he knew his own Silver-chan so well that he recognized so many of those same, admirable characteristics in the redheaded Saotome. And knowing what Ranko was like, how could any man not lust after such a creature, Akira asked himself?

He was surprised at both the feeling of attraction and desire to protect the red-haired Saotome whom he had so recently met. Like Silver, he too had sensed a deep seated vulnerability in the girl who had such a haunted past, as well as her desire, almost need, for affection. And though he lacked Silver's naked lust to fulfill Ranko's wants so openly and energetically, he still found himself eager to embrace and comfort the smaller girl in any way he could.

He might not have possessed the deep-rooted connection (both in the physically erotic and emotional senses) that Silver and Ranko now obviously had with one another (for he too had felt the surge of sensualist pleasure the girls had given out during the climax of their coupling), but rather than the jealousy other men might feel, he wanted to share of it, to see if he could revel in it as well, or at least take part of it in some way. Rather than feel threatened, he preferred the idea of nurturing what bond the two had and savor the knowledge that he could help encourage such emotions in those that he cared about in similar but different ways.

Perhaps, in some ways, he was just following along in Silver's wake (given the force of nature she was it was an appropriate comparison), but again he didn't feel threatened by the idea. He was not the alpha-type personality that Silver was, and had no desire to be such. He was much more comfortable allowing others to take the initiative, though if he felt passionately about something he could be every bit as forceful as Silver should the need arise. But the idea that he could be in some way connected to both girls, and they in return tied to him, held a surprising amount of appeal.

Judging the decision Akira had seemed to arrive at, Wulf decided to help things along in the direction he thought things should go, "You could have a rare thing in the bond that the three of you could share should you all decide to take that course. Should things work out, and given what experience I have, I think the potential is great, you should treasure this opportunity. It's one most people won't get in a lifetime."

Akira considered that. "Do you think so?"

Wulf nodded his head seriously, "Indeed, I can't say that for certain, even with all of my experience, but I think it would. A different sort of bond exists for me and my family with one another, no less important than yours, but definitely different," he clarified.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained?" Akira asked, though it seemed directed more to himself than Wulf.

"That's what I say every time I come upon a female Shikima I've never met before," Wulf joked. He got up to leave the showers, unconcerned with his unclothed state as he moved to walk through the house. "It's been an honor meeting you. Hope we get a chance to talk again."

"I have a feeling we will," Akira said, and meant it. There was something about House Miroku that made him believe that he would be back here sometime. He didn't know if it would be a day, a year, or a lifetime, but he knew he would.

Akira, a bit more modest, grabbed a bathrobe and donned it before heading out to the hall and to the room Silver had said they should share. No doubt she was there already, given the head start she had and the lengthy time he had spent chatting with Wulf. It had been time well spent though, giving him a chance to reflect upon what he had done and what he was about to do...

"Having fun?" she asked.

(To be continued-still a work in progress!)

X 


	26. Chapter 26

The Problems With Getting Off A Follow Up Side Story to Reality Squared Side Story 5

These events take place one day after the ones in Side Story 5.

Special thanks to Jim Bader for giving me a hentai playground to frolic in.

Based in part by characters created by Rumiko Takahashi as well as Jim Bader

You can find all of my fics now stored at:  
.

All comments and criticisms appreciated. You can contact me at sommer

WARNING: VERY HEAVY AND GRAPHIC LEMON AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. AND IF YOU'RE UNDERAGE TO READ SUCH MATERIALS IN YOUR AREA, DON'T READ IT AT ALL.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Silver Saotome had a problem.

She was horny.

No, she wasn't just horny. She was 'out of her mind loins on fire and need a good dick, pussy, or both and maybe a gang-bang thrown in to quit making walking around an effort' horny.

It was all most peculiar, considering the sheer amount of sex she had in the last two days. Finally consummating her relationship with Akira. Her temporal sister Ranko and the heated passion exchanged between them. The delights contained within House Miroku. Yuriko Kuonji in the school shower.  
The Nazi Rape Machine.

Okay, she could have done without the rape machine, but everything else had resulted in more sex in a short amount of time than most normal people could deal with, making Silver glad she was anything but normal. Still, after all of the outstanding screwing she so recently had gave (and received), she thought her fires would have been doused for at least a week, if not longer.

It had all started out relatively normal. Silver returned directly to her home after her action with 'Yu-chan.' After ascertaining Akira had made it back to his home all right, Silver had been dutiful in giving her concerned parents a very edited version of her role in saving a universe from destruction. As she hoped, her father bought it all and slapped her on the back for doing 'almost as good a job' as he would have done. Her mother was a bit suspicious in the telling of the story, sensing that some of the subject matter had been edited, but seemed reluctant to press the issue and showed faith in her daughter by not inquiring further. It made Silver appreciate Shampoo all the more. She and Akira would have to deal with their relationship, but later, once Silver had a chance to catch her breath and think more clearly.

After a brief dinner and a call to Akira wishing him good night (and to assure him they would have to 'get together' again before the week was out),  
Silver went to bed, expecting to sleep like a rock from all of the various experiences she had undergone.

At first all was fine. However, Silver's easy rest was short-lived as her mind began processing all of its new experiences through dreams. In the beginning, they were the simple existential things as before in her life,  
but eventually the dreams became increasingly hot and erotic, featuring a variety of the interesting para-dimensional people she had met. In the dreams, she had a wide range of encounters in both her forms, having continuous sex with both the men and women she had found so alluring. The dreams eventually ended on the most erotic one of all: Silver as girl being mounted from behind by a powerfully thrusting Akira while Ranko-kun stuffed his man-meat in her mouth, the two threatening to meet in the middle with the hard fucking she was receiving.

The intensity of the dream woke Silver up. She was stunned to find that she had forced a trio of fingers in her mouth and with the other hand thrust all of her digits nearly to the hilt in her pussy. She only got as far as removing the ones in her mouth when she realized she was still running incredibly hot and needed some relief. She was fully intent upon finishing the job with her hand when a loud knocking came from her door. It was her mother, who asked if she was all right since she thought she had heard some odd noises. Reflexively, Silver removed the fingers and called to her mother that she was fine and she had just been grumbling about her inability to find a pair of underwear. Her mother replied with a reminder it was getting late and she needed to hurry and get ready for school.

Silver silently cursed that she wasn't going to have the time to relieve herself. She came up with a possible solution and dialed Akira's house in the hopes she could persuade him to serve her a quickie if she stopped by on her way to school. However, it was Kasumi who answered and informed her he had left early for his college courses. For a brief moment, Silver considered skipping school altogether to track Akira down and persuade him to take the day off for some tumbling action, but quickly dismissed the notion. She had missed too many days of school already and couldn't afford to be absent any more. Besides, she was a Saotome, and could control herself when she had to. She'd just wait until after school to meet Akira for some horizontal (and every other position) fun. She was left wondering why she was still so incredibly horny though, especially with all of the action she had experienced. It was almost as bad as that time in the showers with Yuriko. Very curious.

Unknown to Silver, it was more than normal teenager hormones affecting her.  
During her night of sleep, as her body rested, a curious and unexpected thing happened. The Miroku 'love juice' which Tsuyori had slipped to Silver before her dimensional jump (the substance that had fired the sex changing girl up for a little more training upon her abrupt return) had been absorbed into her bloodstream after the majority of it was spent in the shower with Yuriko. Ordinarily it would just dissipate on its own, processed as all bodily fluids were. At least that was what normally happened. However,  
unbeknownst to Tsuyori, Silver was anything but 'normal'. Her 'curse',  
combined with the unusual nature of her birth, a magical process that nearly killed her parents and all but insured that Silver would remain an only child, had imbued magic in every cell of her body. It went beyond the normal results of a Jusenkyou curse, or even being a nexus; it was simply a part of her.

And it was due to this magic that the Miroku juice had an unexpected effect on Silver's body. Rather than simply dissipating in her bloodstream as it should have done, Silver's body reacted by replicating a less potent version of the juice. It was a temporary thing. Once the last of the original amount was used up through intercourse her body would cease production of the aphrodisiac-like substance, but until that time, it would continue to serve its original function far beyond what Tsuyori had planned.

In Silver, the elusive substance first revealed its effects by triggering erotic dreams. But as her body continued to manufacture greater amounts of the Miroku substance while going through a brief morning workout with her father and cleaning herself up afterwards, the effects continued to grow,  
and they weren't limited to her alone. The heat of her body caused her to give off a low scent similar to the one that had helped to enrapture Yuriko,  
though thankfully much more watered down.

Silver was too concerned over dealing with her growing lust to notice the effect she was having upon the people seated at the breakfast table around her. Instead of a hot and irresistible urge to immediately take the nearest person that was considered attractive, it produced a much more subtle reactions in the older people, who were likewise better able to control such feelings within themselves. Still, when he thought the others weren't looking, Ranma shot his wife a look that she recognized immediately. It made her glad considering her own powerful amorous feelings. A private 'workout'  
in the dojo would suit her just fine, and with the way she was feeling, it was a good thing Ranma had soundproofed the dojo out back. The only question remaining was if they would do it as is or in cursed forms, or perhaps a mix of the two. After years of marriage, they had explored every possibility,  
much to their mutual delight.

Across the table from them, Genma felt his wife's hand caress his leg, and locations higher than that, under the table and out of view of the younger generations around them. He nearly choked on the rice he was shoveling down.  
If Nodoka was behaving like this so early he was going to be in for an energetic morning. It seemed that even after living at home for the majority of the last eighteen years, his wife was still trying to make up for the decade they had spent apart.

As for Narasuma, Ranma's younger brother who was all of a couple of years older than his niece, he began to squirm uncomfortably from what he regarded as 'impure impulses' regarding his fiancee, Kiri Tendou. Not that his mother would mind him engaging in such behavior with his future wife with the way she had been urging him on lately, expressing a desire for even more grandchildren in her life before she became 'too old to enjoy such blessings'. That seemed a stretch given how lively both of his parents were,  
despite the outward signs of age they were showing. Still, this morning walking with Kiri to school was going to be a bit more difficult than usual if he had to be around her with that sort of raging hard-on between his legs. And lord help him if she realized he was in that sort of aroused state around her. There was no telling what would happen.

Silver announced she was leaving and headed out quickly, hoping a high speed run might drain of her of the extra energy she had. She was going to be in a tight bind if she continued with that level of arousal during the school day.

The run proved to be distracting. Silver tried thinking of school work, but her mind wandered involuntarily to thoughts concerning sex. She found herself recalling in vivid detail how her sexual 'liberation' had begun.

It was ironic how someone who was labeled by so many as a 'real go-getting stud' had actually been the one seduced in her first sexual encounter. It had happened shortly after Silver's return from her year-long training journey with her parents. The somewhat gangly girl that left had returned transformed by a combination of puberty, good diet, and a superior training regimen that changed her into what she knew damn well was a seriously hot-looking person in either form. Her body had filled out in all the right places, with her legs getting longer, her breasts getting bigger, and putting on sufficient muscle so that she looked perfectly proportioned in every part of her body. She knew it as fact from the number of stares she drew from men whenever she entered a room.

Her male form drew plenty of attention from women as well, which Silver appreciated just as much as what she received from men. Back then there were times when she wondered if she were bi-sexual, and not just in the sense that she could change sex. Upon reaching puberty and sorting through the various emotional confusion that accompanied it, she realized that she regarded both sexes as attractive and could easily visualize being turned on by either a man or a woman (though Akira had always been the one her thoughts turned to first when pondering such things).

Her theory was eventually borne out during her first sexual encounter. When Silver had returned to school, she had rekindled many old friendships,  
including one with a girl named Yuki Yaseroka. One day after school, Yuki revealed she was feeling down after being dumped by her boyfriend. Since her parents were out of town, and she had discovered the key to the liquor cabinet, she invited Silver over to party with her and cheer her up.

After consuming quite a few drinks (as in a whole bottle of brandy), the duo found themselves quite drunk and sitting on the floor since using chairs had become a bit hazardous. Yuki 'accidentally' spilled some of the liquor on Silver's chest, triggering her change. Apologizing profusely, she helped Silver-kun remove his shirt, all but sitting in his lap to do so. The effect of having a girl crawl into his lap and help undress him served to harden his organ in an instant, and he hoped Yuki wouldn't notice. If she did, she gave no indication of it as, after tossing the shirt aside, she ran her fingers over Silver-kun's chest, much to his surprise and delight. She then pushed him gently but firmly onto his back, straddling his hips the entire time. Despite being able to toss her across the room at will if he so chose,  
Silver-kun remained where he was as Yuki continued running her fingers slowly across his chest, tracing the lines of muscles there.

"Good enough to drink off of," she purred as she proceeded to pour part of the contents of a second bottle over his chest. The cold liquid splashed across his skin and hardened his nipples, just as quickly as if he had been a girl. He only babbled a single incoherent protest as Yuki then bent over and proceeded to lick up the brandy, playing her tongue all over his chest,  
but paying special attention to his nipples. He was only able to moan in pleasure at the erotic play as she licked him with her none too delicate tongue.

After a thorough cleaning, Yuki removed her blouse and bra, revealing a firm set of breasts that Silver-kun had admired on a handful of occasions in the girls locker room. Yuki squeezed her breasts together, turning Silver-kun on even further.

"Are these good enough for you to drink off of too?" she asked as she released her hold and leaned slightly back, pouring the contents of the bottle on the top of her chest and allowing the liquid to flow both over the breasts and down the valley between them.

Silver-kun's reaction was instinctual as he sat up, while she still straddled him, and proceeded to give her his answer. First he ran his tongue through the valley of her bosoms, not missing a single drop of the powerful liquid. Once cleaned, he moved to her breasts, licking the top of one before finally coming to the pointed nipple and all but inhaling it in his mouth and answering any questions he had about his sexuality.

"I knew you had it in you," Yuki gasped as she pressed his head to her bosom, causing him to increase the force of his suction. After licking the first thoroughly clean, he moved to the other, suckling like a newborn babe on the alcoholic flavored nipple, causing Yuki to grind her pelvis on his own crotch.

The grinding, however, had an unanticipated effect, in that it rubbed itself directly on top of Silver-kun's hardened member. Had they been naked, it would have been a simple matter to maneuver it into Yuki's pussy, where both actually wanted it. However, with his dick still bound in his pants, all it succeeded in doing was rubbing the material of his boxers against the sensitive head of his shaft. Within moments Silver-kun stopped his suckling,  
then gasped and moaned. The haze produced by the alcohol prevented Yuki from understanding what was wrong until she felt a moistness underneath her soak her panties.

"Damn," Yuki pouted as she fondled the damp area of his pants.

Silver-kun, quite aware of the enormous faux pas he had just committed,  
could do nothing more than give a weak, "Sorry," though it was more for her benefit since the orgasm had felt pretty damn pleasing to him.

After another minute of pouting, Yuki gained in evil glint to her eye. She maneuvered off his pelvis and positioned herself crouched between his legs.  
Her hands were nearly a blur as she undid the drawstring and removed his pants and boxers, revealing the flaccid, but still impressive looking piece of meat within.

"I can see this is good enough to lick off of too." She poured more of the brandy across his groin, then proceeded to give the shaft and sack beneath it a thorough cleaning while she fingered her own loins. Her ministrations were rewarded with another hard on within a couple of minutes, a testament both to Silver-kun's regenerative capabilities as well as Yuki's talented tongue.

She took a moment to admire the glistening dick before her. "Way bigger than anything that's gone in me before, but I think I can handle it."

Feeling both drunk and aroused, as well as completely surprised by the situation he was in, Silver-kun just lay there and watched as Yuki removed her skirt and panties, then proceeded to impale herself on his shaft. She did it slowly, working the head in carefully as she adjusted to its width.  
Silver-kun allowed her to dictate the pace as he just lay there and enjoyed the sensations her velvety folds were producing.

"Oh yes," Yuki moaned as she eased the head all the way in, then proceeded to move up and down, taking more of the rod in with each bounce. She eventually got a little more than halfway in before saying, "This was all the bigger Takeo was."

For the first time since they had begun, Silver-kun felt a bit of irritation at being compared to another man, even if it was only to point out that he was bigger than Yuki's ex-boyfriend. In response, he grabbed Yuki by the hips and forced her down, burying the remaining length of his shaft in one thrust.

Yuki gasped and her eyes widened as she felt her pussy more filled than ever before. She wasn't given a chance to catch her breath as Silver-kun kept his hold on her hips and using his tremendous strength, forced her up until only the head of the shaft was buried in her. He allowed gravity to take over as he let her back down in one swift motion and buried the whole length in her again. That elicited in even louder gasp from his partner.

"A lot bigger, ain't it?"

"Yes," Yuki moaned as she tried adjusting to the length within her. Again she wasn't given a chance to catch her breath as he drew her up and down on him again.

The experience was blissful as she took over the effort of moving up and down on his shaft. He grabbed her bouncing breasts and squeezed her nipples as she sprung up and down faster and faster until in a seemingly short amount of time she gave out a cry and had a more powerful orgasm than anything her ex-boyfriend had given her.

The tightening of her pussy was too much for Silver-kun. He gave off another loud groan and shot his wad deep within a girl for the first time. He felt his balls convulse within her until he was convinced there was nothing left.  
Yuki apparently felt the same as she all but collapsed across his chest.

Silver-kun wrapped his arms around her and held her gently, stroking her long brown locks with his fingers. As he came down from his orgasmic high,  
and enough of the alcohol had faded to allow him to think, he considered what had happened and what it meant to him. He reassessed his emotions a second time and came to the same conclusion.

His strokes became more tentative as he softly said, "Yuki?"

"Hmm?" she purred as she rested her head on his chest.

"I hate to break this to you, but I need to do it now before things get too far along," And before Silver-kun lost his courage to tell her. "Look, what just happened was absolutely mind-boggling, and you're really a nice girl and a great lay, but I don't love you. There's someone else I'm interested in. I'm sorry." He waited for her tearful rebuke.

Yuki lifted her head up and stared him in the eyes. "Umm, I hate to break this to you, but I was kind of just using you for sex." She was quick to add, "Not that you're not a great lay and a wonderful friend as well,  
especially for cheering me up so much."

"Oh." Silver-kun let that soak in for a moment. That certainly made things easier, even if it was a bit of a disappointment. He had thought for certain she'd really be lusting for him after the ride she had just received. Still,  
it was for the best. And there was one other thing.

"You still a bit disappointed?" he asked.

Yuki looked at him curiously. It took a moment for her to understand the hopeful look in his eyes. A wide grin split her features. "A little bit. I think I could use some more of your cheer."

"Good," Silver-kun grinned back as he rolled on top of Yuki and began moving his hips back and forth again.

Definitely one of her better memories, Silver noted as she continued hurrying to school. After that encounter there was no going back for her.  
She found that she had enjoyed sex tremendously and wanted more, not with a nymphomaniacal like lust, but just a teenager's normal sex drive. And Silver Saotome meant to get it in just about any way that she could.

There were only two complications she felt could get in the way. The first was her parents. Her father was over-protective with his only child to a fault. He always showed dislike to any man that expressed in interest in her, except those whose parents he was friends with. That list roughly broke down to: Akira, Ryo Hibiki, and his personal favorite, Tarou Tendou (the second a cool friend, the last someone she would prefer drop off the face of the planet). Even now, she had no idea how he would react to the knowledge that his daughter was bi-sexual and had already screwed dozens of women.  
Silver was too frightened to guess, although the idea of her father trying to arrange a marriage with either one of her partners, or worse, Tarou, in order to 'calm her down' was a disturbing possibility. And given her grandmother's enthusiasm for additional Saotome offspring, there was a possibility she would encourage either union as well if it got her some great-grandchildren. Very scary territory.

When it came to Silver's mother, it was hard to say what Shampoo's reaction would be with her daughter being sexually active. In the end it didn't matter since her mother would blab it all to her father and that same previous fate would unfold. No, best they were kept in the dark on the matter.

There was also the problem with Akira. She knew he was the one for her as much as she was the one for him, even if he continued to deny it by resisting her attempts to charm him. She wanted to remain chaste for him,  
but at the same time she wanted to feel the wonderful delight of some girl bouncing on her pole again. It was then Silver came up with a happy medium:  
she would allow her girl half to remain a virgin for Akira while indulging herself as a man. Besides, it was unlikely Akira would feel all that threatened if he heard Silver was sleeping with women. He'd just have to understand that she had urges, and since he was unwilling to satisfy them,  
she would have to do so in little more than meaningless ventures with members of the same sex, though she would be sure not to mention such to him. There was no need to rub his face in it.

And the other possibility would be that he might consider it okay to sleep with other women, which was a definite no-no. And it was not a double standard. Silver would be more than happy to satisfy him that way. And if Akira would be responsible and satisfy her urges, then she wouldn't have to sleep with anyone else. But since he had shown no indication of doing such,  
it was left to Silver to find various ways of satisfying herself.

With that settled, she began her little campaign. It actually turned out to be far easier than she had anticipated, almost as though fate had taken a hand and given its approval Silver hadn't been able to repeat the experience with Yuki, as she ended up getting a new boyfriend a couple of days after their encounter, but it turned out Yuki was quite happy to brag about the performance she had received at Silver's hands. That tale, in turn, had interested a different girl named Okari Yamada.

Okari had gotten pissed at her boyfriend, Gotoh Kenichi, for screwing around on her. Deciding she needed revenge, Okari chose screwing around with the 'stud' known as Silver Saotome. She did this by simply walking up to Silver and telling the cursed girl to meet her up in one of the labs during lunch if she wanted to 'have some hot muff to dine on'. Silver didn't need to be told twice, and one splash of cold water later, met Okari as requested.  
Okari explained that like Yuki, all she wanted was some guy to give her a good ride so she could get back at Gotoh.

That suited Silver-kun just fine, both from the fact he would get laid and that he would be doing it to Gotoh's girl. The two of them didn't get along,  
with Gotoh hating Silver with a passion while she found him insufferably irritating. Before Silver's arrival, Gotoh had been one of the 'big men' in the school. He was a decent fighter, came from a rich and well-respected family, was good-looking, and was proud to rub those facts into anyone and everyone's face. That all came to an end when he made the mistake of putting on a big show when hitting on the new girl, Silver Saotome in front of everyone. For her part, Silver found herself intensely disliking him on sight and turned him down in a publicly humiliating manner. Then he made the second mistake of trying to attack her to 'put her slut ass in its proper place.' That resulted in an even more embarrassing loss as Silver made him look like a car wreck victim in under a minute. After that he kept his verbal jabs leveled when her back was turned. She had known about it, but couldn't beat him up if she couldn't catch him in the act, so humping his girlfriend would be the next best thing.

In answer to Okari's request, Silver-kun locked the door, ripped off his partner's panties and all but threw her on one of the lab tables. Unlike the last time with Yuki, Silver-kun controlled the tempo by jumping on top and fucking the hell out of Okari's pussy. He blew his load in her twice,  
getting her to come at least three times before the lunch period expired.

On a whim Silver kept Okari's panties as a souvenir. Feeling the silky material in her pocket served to keep her hot the rest of the day. Once school was over, Silver decided to test the waters and see if she could convince Okari that they ought to do it once more to really irritate Gotoh.  
Knowing Okari tended to stay after school to clean up the labs, she commenced a search for the hot little piece of ass. It was in the last lab room that Silver found her.

Later, Silver learned Okari had been so excited that she couldn't resist bragging to Gotoh about what she had done with Silver-kun during lunch. With his friends, Gotoh decided to take revenge on 'his cheating bitch' before the day was out. He made good on his promise, which was why Silver found Okari in the state she was in: gagged and being held spread-eagled on the floor by three guys while Gotoh had his pants around his ankles and prepared to sink himself into her resisting form.

Silver's reaction was instantaneous. She was barely able to refrain from killing the would-be rapists, satisfying herself with only seriously beating them up. She saved the worst beating for Gotoh, ending the bone breaking punishment by driving his pretty boy face through a set of glass beakers.  
She was satisfied that he would carry the long scar on his chin forever as a reminder of his actions. Silver promised them a more severe retribution should they ever come into her sight again. Not surprisingly, the next day all of the boys had transferred out of Furinkan, never to return.

Word of Silver's heroics ended up circulating among the girls of Furinkan.  
From that moment on, she found it easy pickings to choose from a bevy of female students that wanted to go out with her (or at least with her cursed form). It was remarkable the number of hot and horny girls that were eager to go out with some attractive stud that was willing to defend a girl's honor, was strong, discreet (a curiosity, since Silver generally enjoyed bragging and was cocky to the extreme), and oh yes, hung like a donkey.  
Given Silver's much vaunted 'silvery tongue' when it came to flattery, it was easy to dazzle his way into the majority of his 'dates' panties and leave them tired but satisfied.

The only real drawbacks, (besides the jealous male population of the school)  
were the occasional girls that tried to lure him into a long-term commitment and make him their nominal 'boyfriend'. He was always up front about only wanting a good time and not a relationship, and for the most part there were no problems, but every now and then one would occasionally try despite the warnings.

Curiously, Yuriko served as something of a solution concerning those ones.  
Silver was never quite sure what it was her Yu-chan did, but every time she complained to Kuonji about some girl harassing her, Yuriko would call Silver an 'egotistical, perverted asshole' and smash her in the head with a spatula. Once Silver regained consciousness, she discovered that Yuriko had done something to persuade the pursuing girl to not go after her anymore.  
The one time Silver questioned Yuriko about it, she received a terse 'I explained to her what the situation really is, pervert!' and walked away.  
After that Silver didn't waste time asking about her good fortune and learned to live with it. Yuriko was a nice, if inexplicably violent, friend.  
It sort of reminded her of the relationship her father had with Mr. Hibiki.

Just as she finished reminiscing about her situation, she finally arrived at school, still as horny as ever. Just as she was just about to enter the school grounds, she ran into another of her good friends, Ryo 'Monster'  
Hibiki.

Ryo's 'monster' nickname (which he disliked) didn't come from his attitude,  
but rather from the fact he stood just under six feet tall and weighed in at nearly two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle. He and Silver had always gotten along very well, especially since her return from her extended training trip. He did tend to blush a lot, which made Silver wonder if he was interested in her, but given Yu-chan's feeling concerning Ryo, and the fact that Silver only had eyes for Akira, that made him strictly off limits.  
Still, he was handsome, and looking upon his mighty form with how horny she was, it was hard not to imagine what it would be like for him to use his awesome strength to rip her clothes off, pin her to the ground, and fuck her like an animal in heat right there in front of the school gates.

"How's it going?" Ryo asked.

Rather than respond immediately, Silver walked up to him and ran a hand along his chest. "We're feeling mighty strapping today, aren't we?"

"Ah?" Ryo felt the heat rise to his cheeks as, for the first time in memory,  
the girl of his dreams was fondling his chest and actually acting interested in him. His jaw seemed to stop working, which he felt was probably just as well since he was certain whatever words came out would screw everything up.  
Instead he stood there in awe as Silver continued to play her fingers along his chest, a fantasy of the two of them making love sending him into a waking dream.

"Very nice," Silver purred, also lost in the fantasy of running off with Ryo to some quiet corner of the school and having him pound her pussy. She was considering suggesting that when her danger senses went off, causing her to instinctively roll out of the way just in time to evade a giant spatula aimed at her head. Instead, the weapon's follow through hit Ryo full in the stomach. He reacted not in the slightest, still lost in his wonderful fantasy.

"You bitch!" Yuriko screeched as she swung her spatula at Silver again, the silver-haired girl easily getting out of the way. "Keep your hands off my Ryo!"

Silver gave her friend a concerned look. "Don't worry, Yu-chan. I still love you." And with that she ducked under a spatula thrust, grabbed Yuriko by the collar of her outfit, and gave her a deep kiss that caused everyone in sight to gasp.

Silver released her hold and proceeded to walk casually into school, leaving Yuriko so stunned that all she could do was remain as motionless as a statue. It was only after a minute that enough of Yuriko's senses returned to realize that people were staring. "I'm not a lesbian! I'm not!" She protested, holding her spatula high and all but daring anyone to contradict her. The majority of students, well aware of Yuriko's tender feelings on her sexuality, chose to make a run for it rather than risk her wrath.

Once the majority of students departed, she turned her angry gaze to the school and the foe that lay somewhere within. "DAMN YOU, SILVER! YOU'LL PAY FOR MY PUBLIC HUMILIATION!" She then proceeded to unleash her anger at the one person remaining nearby: the still fantasizing Ryo. She struck him with her spatula for being "a typical male pig!" The blows only served to prod the fantasizing boy toward the school, which was remarkable considering that was the direction he subconsciously wanted to go in anyway.

Inside, Silver was left shaking her head at her brazen behavior. What had possessed her to publicly kiss Yuriko and nearly make a play to screw Ryo?  
Surely she wasn't running that hot? She was simply going to have to get over how horny she felt and deal with it until she could run down Akira. She was a Saotome, she could deal with anything.

Or so she told herself. Unfortunately, such was not to be, as her body's level of Miroku juice, while slowing down in production rate somewhat,  
continued to build. She made it through her first two periods with just a minimum of fuss. But by the third period she was becoming aroused to the point of distraction.

And she wasn't the only one. The other students around her, though not experiencing quite the same level of arousal as Silver, still found themselves reacting to the undetectable scent in the air. Their feelings became more intense with each hour they were in the silver-haired Saotome's presence. There was a bit more shifting of students in their seats as increasingly leering stares were exchanged by various members of the class.  
Likewise, the reactions to such overtures were not rebuked quite as harshly (or at all, in some cases) as they tended to be, especially by those closest to Silver.

By third period there was no denying it anymore: she needed to get off immediately.

She raised her hand, asking permission to go to the girls' room, Receiving it, she left with the intention of frigging herself until she came pouring buckets. That was the only way she was ever going to make it through the day.

Heading through the silent halls to her destination, her path changed course when she spotted another figure wandering around like a lost little lamb.  
Well, more like a lost lowland gorilla.

Promises at the start of the school day forgotten, Silver made a beeline for Ryo Hibiki.

He spotted her at the same time, his face blushing at the number of naughty thoughts he had been entertaining about her since the start of classes. It had taken him two periods to really shake himself out of his fantasies. It really was startling that Silver had such an effect on him, especially considering he didn't have the problems his father had with women at his age. It was just that Silver was so incredibly attractive that his mind tended to seize up when it came to dealing with her in anything other than the most chaste of situations.

As she approached, he got out, "Ah, could you help me find room 4-G? I have to deliver a message there, and you know with my sense of direction-"

The rest was cut off as Silver stood on her toes and proceeded to 'suck face' with the taller boy.

"Ah, ah, ah," was all he was able to get out once she released her liplock.  
His heart was hammering so hard he thought it would burst forth from his chest.

Silver began fondling his crotch, eliciting louder "Ah's". She could tell what was there would be enough to satisfy her needs. "Why don't we find some place quiet and fuc-" Again her highly developed senses warned her of danger. Lightning fast, she darted away from Ryo and into a side hall out of sight.

"How dare you use these halls for such public displays of affection, you delinquents!" the young voice from behind Ryo shouted.

Recognizing the voice, Ryo snapped out of his stupor just in time to feel the energy sucked from his body. As hot as he was running, he was unable to shield himself in the slightest from Miss Hinako's energy draining effect.  
His large, albeit completely drained, form was left laying crumpled in the hall.

Miss Hinako, head disciplinarian and English teacher, moved forward and examined her handiwork. She placed one heeled foot directly on the bag of flesh and twisted. Ryo noted there was one good thing about being drained:  
he didn't feel much of anything. Well, that and with the way Hinako was standing on him, he could look up her short, tight dress and receive a perfect view of the lacy black panties she was wearing. The tiny thing barely covered her mound, small surprise considering that her adult form was at least fifty percent bigger than that of her normal thirteen year old body. Not that he was a pervert or a pedophile, and the fact that Hinako was easily the most oppressive bitch he had ever met, helped him to deal with the view in a more restrained manner than if he caught a glimpse of Silver in her panties.

Hinako Himemiya looked upon the boy with disdain. She supposed she shouldn't be too angry, since between her current ability of energy management and the tremendous aura he had radiated the amount absorbed would easily allow her to remain in her adult form for the rest of the day. "I see I only got one of you, Mr. Hibiki," she said in a forty year old voice that was just as sultry was when she was twenty. "I'll let you off with a warning this time.  
But if I catch you making out in the halls again, I'll drain you so thoroughly you won't have enough energy to kiss your mother. And that goes for whoever your little friend was too." Threat made, she walked off.

Off in the side hall, hidden in the girls' restroom, Silver Saotome winced as she heard Miss Hinako's footsteps drift off in the distance. It figured she'd render Ryo useless for any personal satisfaction for the rest of the day. A good thing she hadn't seen Silver either. For some odd reason, it seemed the 'Head Bitch of Furinkan' had it in for her, though she couldn't say why. Well, from what others said, things had gotten more chaotic around the school since Silver's return, but she couldn't really be blamed for that. It wasn't all her fault. Besides, Hinako did tend to treat everyone like a contemptuous piece of sludge, and was getting worse about it over time from what those that had her in classes said. Yuriko personally attested to that from all of the detention she had served lately. Sometimes Silver wondered if all the size-changing bitch needed was a good fucking to calm her down.

Ohh. Thinking of fucking reminded Silver of her own horny state. Going with her original plan, she went in one of the stalls and locked the door. She dropped her panties and sat on the toilet, then undid her cheogsam to free her braless breasts. She could barely restrain herself as she clutched a breast with one hand and fondled her nipple while playing with her pussy with her other hand. She concentrated on a fantasy involving Akira handling her from behind, whispering sweet words of affection in her ear.

Unable to control herself, Silver began moaning in a low tone as she became increasingly aroused. Now this was more like it. At last some form of relief. Her fingers went from playing with the outside of her love petals to plunging inside as she imagined Akira's cock starting to move within her.

She was really starting to get a tempo going when she heard a concerned girl's voice outside the stall say, "Are you okay?"

Thinking quickly, Silver removed her hands and deepened her moans to far more guttural grunts. "Uhh. Uhh. Darn constipation. Uhh."

That was met with an "Ewww!" and the sound of the girl exiting the restroom.  
Silver waited a minute to make sure she was alone, then put her clothing back into place and left the stall. That had been close. There was no way she could be caught masturbating in the girls restroom. Why, people would have thought she couldn't get a date. Her reputation would be ruined.

Still feeling incredibly horny and angry at not having a chance to relieve her tension, Silver returned to her class. Something was going to have to give and soon.

After another period of squirming, at last the time for swimming in gym class was upon her. That class made Silver deal with certain allowances.  
Since the water was cold, she would always have to take gym as a male and swim with the boys while the girls used an adjacent pool. That meant using the girls locker room last since she could hardly go into the boys locker room (not that she would have minded). The faculty weren't particularly pleased with the idea of a boy, even one that was really a cursed girl, in the girls locker room with them present. So Silver-kun found himself the last one out and into the pool area.

It was his fervent hope that the cold water would douse his horniness the way a cold shower would. But his hopes were dashed as, even after doing a few quick laps, it quickly became obvious the water was doing nothing for him. In fact, he was probably worse off than before. Part of that was because he was around a lot of topless guys, some of them damn cute, with tight butts and glistening pecs. Not as good as her male form's of course,  
but more than passingly eye-catching.

Then there were the girls right next to the boys' pool. Despite being forced to wear conservative swimsuits, their shapely bodies were still obvious to all of the males in the area. A lot of them (probably more in number than the guys) were very attractive, and it didn't help that Silver-kun had personally seen a handful of the beauties sans their swimsuits in the past,  
usually when they were humping up a storm.

The past memories only served to stoke the fires in Silver-kun's burning loins; a situation that was obvious to any who could see the now black-haired Saotome. Given Silver-kun's own flamboyant nature, he chose to wear a set of tight swim trunks that couldn't begin to hope to conceal his member when it had a hard on. Normally, the cold water negated any concerns along those lines, but this time his dick was straining against the material, making Silver-kun borderline fearful that it would poke its way out the top and scare some of the women, and almost certainly the guys. He knew the boys were uncomfortable with the idea of a guy sporting a hard on around them, one that they knew found them to be sexually attractive, the conservative jerks.

The few times Silver-kun had to come out of the water, he drew the stares of many of the girls, particularly towards his trunks. A few of the females that he hadn't dated seemed particularly fascinated by his barely concealed member. He made a mental note of those he found attractive and tallied them for future reference. There might be one or two future conquests in the group.

At last, the swimming instructor blew his whistle to signal the end to class. Silver-kun waited patiently for everyone to leave, doing some push ups in the hope of burning off some of his excess energy, but the up and down motion only served to remind him of fucking.

"I have got to get to Akira," he mumbled to himself as he figured he waited long enough for the girls locker room to clear out. Sticking his head in, he warned, "I'm coming in."

He headed directly for the shower, stripping his trunks off on the way. His erection was obviously in a high state of arousal, the large purple head feeling sensitive even in the warm air of the locker room. Now that he thought about it, he might have enough time for a little wrist action to help cool his jets. He moved to the showers themselves before handling it.  
It would be easier to clean up the mess there with a simple turn of the handle.

He stopped in front of the showerhead where he had fucked Yuriko the other day. What he wouldn't do to have her sexy body before him at that moment. He placed his hand on his dick and began stroking it, remembering the feel of Yuriko's loins as he held her suspended above the floor and impaled her hard and fast.

No more than two handstrokes in, Silver-kun heard a high pitched feminine voice say, "Well now, it looks like you really did need some relief,  
Silver-chan."

Immediately Silver-kun released the hold on his shaft and looked to where the familiar voice had come from. Sure enough, the demure Megumi 'Megs'  
Watanabe was standing in the middle of the locker room, admiring his form from afar.

Silver-kun took a step towards her. Now this was just what he needed. Megs was a delightful little thing. Standing under five feet high, she was actually quite slender, with breasts that were smaller than oranges. Her face was quite attractive though and definitely her most outstanding physical feature. But it wasn't the 'physical' features he was so interested in at the moment.

Silver-kun had dated Megs once a couple of months back. She came from a well to do family and had been given a car upon successfully getting her license.  
It was Megs that had approached him for a date, asking if he wanted to go with her to a drive-in that night. He happily agreed, certain he was going to get some from the way she had asked.

Things had started off well enough, Megs proving she was a talented kisser that could French with the best of them. But when Silver-kun tried moving from heavy petting to outright fondling, his companion clamped her legs shut tighter than his Aunt Nabiki's purse strings. Megs unequivocally stated that she was saving herself for marriage and that no one was allowed access to that part of her body. Silver-kun was left with a major hard-on and the bewilderment of how he could have misjudged Megs' intentions so badly. It was then she explained that just because he couldn't go between her legs,  
didn't mean there weren't other avenues they could explore. Silver-kun was confused about what Megs was talking about until she undid the zipper on his pants and proceeded to give him the best blow-job of his life. Her technique was so masterful she had him spraying his load deep in her throat twice inside ten minutes, Megs mouth never leaving his shaft once as she swallowed every drop when she deep-throated him. He was willing to bet she could teach the Miroku a thing or two about giving head.

And that talented mouth was exactly what he needed right now.

There was no question as to why Megs had remained behind, and Silver-kun wasn't about to disappoint her. Determined to be relieved of the heavy load in his dick, he approached her, quickly and gracefully.

Megs remained standing with a hand on her hip and a catlike grin on her face as he approached. She admired Silver-kun's body, everything from his chiseled chest to the stiff piece of meat between his legs turning her on even further as he drew near. She had indeed stayed behind for a specific reason, and that reason was drawing very close. Megs was a bit surprised at her actions. She could never remember feeling a need to be this bold and daring, especially on school grounds, but for some inexplicable reason she was so damn horny that she had to do something to ease her 'suffering'. When she had spotted Silver-kun's raging hard-on in swim class (something all the girls had noticed, even those that tried to deny it), she was the one that took the initiative to cure her and Silver-kun's woes by remaining behind for some oral entertainment.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Megs was in no denial about what she really was: in her case a major suck slut. The only thing she enjoyed more than feeling some guy splash her tonsils was painting, and today artistry took a backseat to blowjobs. She was proud of her abilities and her cocksucking talent, and so were the guys who were treated to it. Through practice with dildos she knew she could deep throat an eleven inch shaft when she was in the mood. And when it came to actual men, she hadn't spilled a drop of sperm in years. She couldn't explain the almost fetish-like attraction she had for sucking off guys, but she certainly indulged in it.  
Despite her somewhat unusual taste, she had always been discrete when taking on some guy, and certainly had never risked it on school grounds. But now there was no question she needed some of the pearly white fluid washing out her mouth.

Actually it had been her close proximity to Silver-kun in class and the scent his body was giving out which had triggered the reaction within her.  
In a way it was exactly how the Miroku juice was supposed to work, drawing a possible mate closer to the producer of the scent so he or she could take advantage of the person. And that was exactly what Silver-kun intended to do.

At first Megs thought about teasing him with a little small talk, but such thoughts were brushed from her mind when he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced to her knees before him, his dick jutting out before her mouth. Megs,  
unused to the rather domineering way she was being handled, was about to say something, but when she opened her mouth Silver-kun grabbed her by the back of her head and forced his shaft inside. Caught unprepared, she nearly gagged as he forced nearly half his dick in on the first thrust, and it was only with a strong effort she managed to pull out of his grasp and free the cock from her mouth.

"Wait," she managed to get out just as Silver-kun grabbed her by the head again. She was about to protest about the rough treatment she was receiving when she caught the look of lust in his eyes and realized that was probably a bad idea. She had asked for this and wanted it badly, perhaps even moreso now as she felt an odd tingling sensation in her mouth from the brief contact she had with Silver-kun's man meat, but if she was going to control the pace, she was going to have to do it before Silver-kun started pumping her mouth like it was her pussy instead.

She gripped the base of his shaft and ran her hand along its length,  
stopping when she got to the purple helmet. Once there, she rubbed her thumb along the tip and was instantly rewarded with a glistening drop of pre-cum.  
She bent her head forward and licked the drip down. That single drop alone was enough to excite her even further. She took the head in, swirling her tongue around it with expertise and eliciting a groan of approval from her 'man.'

"Now isn't that better?" she cooed when she allowed it out of her mouth..

"Don't stop," Silver-kun grunted, his fingers running through her hair as he closed his eyes and truly began to enjoy the sensation of Megs oral talents.  
At last he was finally getting some much needed relief.

On Megs part, she too was enjoying the tongue lashing she was giving him as she took him deeper and deeper into her mouth, removing it only long enough to lick up and down his veiny exterior before sucking down on it again. Megs was surprised at how much hornier she was getting in blowing Silver-kun like this. As aroused as she was now, all of the guys in her class could drop their pants and line up, and she would service them all.

Silver-kun was in heaven; there could be no other term to describe it. Megs'  
expert skill was proving too much for him to hold back, not that he wanted to. He could feel his balls trembling with a fury as though he was receiving his first blow-job. He knew he would soon shoot his load deep down Megs throat. Just as he was certain he would let go, Megs unexpectedly removed her mouth from his shaft and tore away from the hands holding her head.  
Silver-kun looked down on her in shock, then anger. How dare the little dicktease bring him to the brink and then back off! Especially after she started everything. If she thought he would let her get away with that, she could think again. He was running way hotter than ever before in his life.  
There was going to be some form of relief, even if it meant bending Megs over and taking it from another openin...

"What's going on here?!" A voice from behind Silver-kun demanded.

He spun on his heel, recognizing the voice and not caring in the least about his state of dress, angrier than he could ever remember at being denied his release yet again.

The speaker, Hinako Himemiya, stood there in shock at the scene before her.  
She had entered the girls locker room only so she could use a shortcut to go through there and the pool area to one of the gym teacher's offices so she could retrieve some papers. The last thing in the world she had expected to see was some girl on her knees giving another student a blow-job as though they were in some kind of bordello instead of an institute of learning.

The girl, whom Hinako now recognized (since she no longer had a dick buried deep in her throat) as Megumi Watanabe, had spotted the disciplinarian and reacted first by backing away in fear. A part of Hinako's mind marked that she had underestimated the size of the dick Megumi had been blowing. At first, given the amount that was still showing from the other end of Megumi's mouth, Hinako had assumed the student had only just taken in the head. It was much to her surprise that nearly a third of the dick was in there already. Certainly she marked it as one of the larger ones she could recall seeing in her life.

Realizing the dick was now pointing her way, Hinako tore her eyes away from it and to the face of the boy it was attached to. She should have known. Of all the 'men' in the school with a reputation for such wanton acts, Silver Saotome had the worst of all. Even Hinako had overheard some of the female students speak of his behaviors, both on and off school grounds. Some of them even spoke from personal experience. Hinako had been after the cursed girl/boy for quite some time now, trying to bust the delinquent for her brazen behavior, flaunting of the rules, and the chaos that seemed to follow her. But Silver had remained elusive and out of reach, always covering her tracks or having another teacher bail her out of the predicament she was in.  
At least until now.

"I see I've caught you at last, Mr. Saotome," Hinako smirked, certain he would cower in terror just like all of the other delinquents she had caught before him. However she found herself surprised when, rather than cringe before her, he took a couple of steps forward, his every move conveying a barely concealed anger and burning intensity the likes of which caused Hinako to be the one to take a step back. However, Silver-kun unexpectedly stopped his forward motion, a look of almost pain on his features as he if he had some sort of internal struggle. At last the anger seemed to partially fade, though the look of intensity remained.

Hinako composed herself. "That will be enough out of you, Mr. Saotome." Once she was convinced he would advance no further, she considered what to do.  
She looked to Megs. "Miss Watanabe, you will remain behind so I can deal with you immediately." She turned to Silver-kun again, examining him closely. "As to you, Mr. Saotome, I'll deal with you later. You will meet me up in my room immediately after school is over to receive your punishment.  
Don't you dare be late. Now get out of here, and for God's sake, put some clothes on."

Proudly, Silver-kun grabbed his clothes and walked towards her, still refusing to be cowed. He even had the audacity to not cover himself as he walked past, completely naked and with his dick jutting out directly at her.  
He paused a moment to lock eyes with her and give one final smoldering look,  
then continued past and back into the pool area towards the boys locker room.

Hinako didn't bother to look behind her as she heard the door shut. She was surprised to discover that her heart was beating inexplicably faster for some reason, and there was an odd scent that seemed to fill the air when Silver-kun walked past her. A very nice scent, she marked. So highly intoxicating that it captured her interest and made her mind wander to a different line of thought than the one it should have been upon.

Hinako considered what had just happened and was disappointed in herself.  
She could have dealt with that situation better. Once Silver-kun had taken several steps towards her, instead of backing away she should have unleashed her Happo Coin Return blast at him. Backing away as she did had placed her on the defensive, and worse, she was fairly certain Silver-kun could have been upon her before she could have reacted had he intended the violence that seemed to be on his features at the time. Still, now that she had a chance to really think about it, Hinako thought that she had identified another look that was mixed in with the anger and intensity, something that had to do with more than the show of spine.

He had been staring at her with the unmistakable mark of lust in his eyes.

How very... improper. Something was obviously going to have to be done with the boy. And she was just the sort that would do it, too.

She was already looking forward to their meeting.

On the other hand, Silver-kun was most assuredly NOT looking forward to the meeting after school. This was for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was what was going to happen to him, especially since Miss Hinako was involved in the situation.

It wasn't the first time Silver-kun had been caught in a compromising position on school grounds by a member of the faculty. There had been that time when the phys. ed. teacher, Gompachi Chabane, caught him in the gymnasium teaching the captain of the girls gymnastic team a new technique in mounting the vault, the manner of which consisted of bending the girl over the vault, lashing her to it, then 'mounting' her from behind. Silver had managed to get her way out of that one by volunteering to test out Chabane's new obstacle course. It was a painful way to get out of trouble,  
but well worth it to keep her parents from finding out what she had been up to.

Another time Professor Washuu caught Silver-kun in the school library with his research partner for a biology research assignment. It was one on human reproductive systems, and Silver-kun and his partner decided to engage in some 'in depth' research (the depth being about nine inches) on one of the library tables. It had been one of the few times the silver-haired Saotome really pounded hard on school work, (which resulted in an 'A' on the project, as well as a mark of approval from his partner). Unfortunately the only way to persuade Professor Washuu to remain silent was to allow her to collect both sperm and ova samples from both Silver's forms. The gods above knew what the red-haired scientist was going to do with them in her 'research'.

But Miss Hinako was completely different. She never gave anyone a break.  
Hell, she went out of her way to nail students far beyond what a normal disciplinarian would do. She enjoyed busting 'delinquents', and wanted Silver most of all. The situation appeared very grim. Once his parents found out what he had been up to, it would be all over. It pissed him off more than anything else ever had.

And worst of all, he still had a raging hard on that refused to go away. It was even worse now than when Megs had taken him to the edge and he had been forced to back away from what seemed like the millionth time from getting relief. In the name of the gods, he hadn't even been able to get enough time alone to masturbate. Was there no justice?

To top things off, there seemed to be something wrong with the hot water on the men's side of the locker room, meaning he now had to go through the rest of the day in cursed form. Having to put up with an iron hard rod between his legs was even worse than going around as a girl. Even walking was becoming difficult as there wasn't enough friction to get him off, but plenty to keep him hard.

His anger and lust fueled the nearly overpowering scent his body was giving off, making things three times worse for the students around him after gym.  
Even the teachers noticed the agitated state the students were in, and hoped it didn't mean trouble for them.

In what seemed to take an eternity, the last class ended and the students filed out of the room. The majority of them heading off for some form of relief from the way they had been worked up throughout the day, either with partners or servicing themselves. All but four students with a phenomenal amount of willpower ended up either fucking or masturbating themselves into a frenzy within the next few hours after school.

However, such relief was denied the one that needed the most. With a current 'love juice' level that would have driven even a Miroku in an orgiastic frenzy (and Silver lacked even basic training to deal with the fluid derived sex drive), Silver-kun made his way to Miss Hinako's classroom in the foulest and horniest mood he had been in his entire life.

The halls were deathly silent as he arrived, and discovered much to his annoyance that Miss Hinako was not present. That drove him even further into a lousy mood. How dare that bitch tell him to show up on time and then make him wait for her! Not only was she going to torture him by busting his ass,  
but now she was going to make him simmer in his own horny juices for who knew how long?

Silver-kun's breath was almost a growl as he sat in the silent room and waited.

For Hinako, things had taken an unexpected turn from the moment she had caught Silver-kun in the locker room. She was surprised at the amount of almost sexual energy she felt after watching the nude Saotome's pleasing form strut its way past her. And there was that scent, so elusive and intoxicating. It seemed to linger in the air, even after Silver-kun had left. If it was some form of cologne, she was going to have to get the name of the brand from him before she left him a broken man from her punishment.

The arousal affected Hinako in ways she wasn't consciously aware. She had been excessively harsh to Megumi, making her break down and cry in moments and continuing on well after. Usually the disciplinarian stopped at that point, but Hinako continued on until she felt she had truly broken the girl.  
She figured it would take a miracle for Megumi to have the courage to come back in a week, if she didn't transfer out altogether.

Curiously, that made Hinako feel unusually satisfied. Curious because as harsh as she tended to be with the students, she didn't actually want to drive them away altogether. She supposed she wasn't quite that sadistic,  
except this time. It was also odd that she had felt the anger directed at Megs herself, rather than what she had done. Thinking about it further,  
Hinako discovered the majority of anger came from visualizing the girl with her mouth on Silver-kun's shaft. It wasn't the first time Hinako had caught a couple of students screwing away, but never before had she gotten so angry with them.

And the feelings directed at Silver-kun for being serviced by little Megs were not anywhere near as angering, which was odd, since Silver was the one Hinako had really wanted to bust. Instead, she felt dissatisfied, though the exact reason eluded her.

Perhaps it was the look of rapture she had seen on Silver-kun's face. Hah!  
The stupid adolescent, as though some high school girl could possibly know how to give a decent blow job. All they had was the sloppy energy of youth,  
which, though powerful, lacked the technique that could only be learned by experience... experience like Hinako had. She could show the cocky Saotome how it was really done. Hinako wagered she could have him howling at the moon in under three minutes with her skill. True, he had a rather large dick, but Hinako was certain she could handle it. And it wasn't like she would necessarily have to deep throat it. Silver-kun was just a horny high-schooler, after all. They never had any concept of restraint.

Hinako's hand found its way to her lips as she remembered Silver-kun's long member. She envisioned herself instead of Megumi on her knees in the locker room, Silver-kun throwing his head back as she licked and sucked...

Shaking her head clear of those thoughts, Hinako was stunned. What on Earth had she been doing?! Fantasizing about giving head to someone that was young enough to be her son, and a rule-breaker to boot. That was the worst kind of teenager there was. Somehow that lousy delinquent had managed to get her hot over him. Oh, now that was a big mistake. She wasn't some silly school girl that became a pile of mush around some fit, hung stud that thought he was God's gift to all things male and female. Hinako would show him just how wrong he was, and how much better she was than all of the tittering little girls that populated the school.

Hinako supposed she shouldn't have been surprised at how easy she was to arouse. It had been two years since the last time she had sex, and it was getting worse for her to deal with it each day. There was also the added problem that her 'younger' body's slow age process had finally elapsed to the point that it was around thirteen, and was currently going through puberty. An extremely protracted one. Anymore now Hinako loathed trying to deal with her emotions in that form. When she had been a sugar chugging little girl it had been bad enough, but now it was nearly impossible to deal with that sort of hormonal changing every day.

So for the last couple of years she had gone out of her way to find delinquents to charge her up to adult form much of the time. Due to her improved ability to use energy more economically, it didn't take as much as it did in the past, and she could maintain her form much longer. But there were problems with that too. From the time her older form had hit its own stage of puberty, every time she absorbed energy she gained an slight bit of arousal from the surge. Not a bad one, but something that made her feel a little erotic and horny. That was one of the reasons she enjoyed busting delinquents and had gotten into the field of discipline; she always got a rush when sucking their energy.

At first it was hard to deal with, especially in the early days of discipline when she would almost wet herself when draining some ultra-powered martial artist. Sometimes she even fantasized about fucking them afterwards (once they had built up their energy level again). How would her students have reacted if they had known that little secret about her,  
she wondered. How every time she sucked off their energy she also wanted to suck their teenage dicks.

In the beginning, she was too afraid to do anything to relieve a sexual tension that only got worse over the years. Not with the students, of course, but with men her age. It was her damn condition responsible for that. There was always the fear that even if she did get a chance to screw some guy (and enough of them leered at her adult form to know she could have her pick) that in mid-intercourse she would change to her younger form and the damage that would follow might be irreparable. And then there was the fact the guy would absolutely freak when it happened, or worse, wouldn't stop. It was just too dangerous.

So for years Hinako waited, becoming increasingly horny as time went on,  
possessed with a killer body and nobody to use it with. It wasn't until her late twenties (too damn old, by her estimation) that the feelings became too great and she finally decided to take the chance and start having sex with men. By then her control over her draining had increased, and she thought her younger body was sturdy enough that if she did happen to change at an inopportune moment, she wouldn't be damaged.

On the night of her first attempt she had gone out of her way to absorb triple her regular amount of energy (which had the unanticipated side effect of making her even hornier) and started cruising a common pick-up bar she had staked out in advance. There were always men there that were pleasing to the eye. She would have preferred to be in a relationship, but she felt certain no man would be able to deal with her 'disability'. So instead she decided to keep it to simple one night stands in order to satiate her needs.

Upon arriving, Hinako wasted no time picking up some nameless hunk that wanted nothing more than to drive his meat up her glistening folds. On the way to the nearby love motel Hinako became so scared she almost called it off (being able to absorb a man's energy meant he would follow her lead one way or another), but she sucked up her courage and went through with it.

It was possibly the most glorious thing she had ever felt.

Sex was wonderful. Amazing. Mind blowing. She felt like a dam that had suddenly burst all at once, orgasms surpassing even the rush felt when draining a powerful martial artist of their energy. She could not believe how foolish she had been in denying herself such ecstasy for all of that time.

She went wild for a month, using a different man nearly every night (and sometimes going back out for a second when she wore out the first) and taking only Sundays off. She might have walked funny during school, but she was in heaven. The one thing consistent on all her outings was that she demand she call the shots. Most men were only too happy to dance to her tune if it meant getting a chance to dive between her legs. She was a disciplinarian after all, and one needed to maintain discipline, especially when something might go wrong if she should suddenly run out of energy. She might have been a bit harsh at times, perhaps even a bitch, but they always caved in to her by the end.

Over the course of the following months, she tapered off somewhat and took a more reasonable approach by picking up men at a lesser rate. She developed a few 'regulars' that she found especially pleasing, but never considered for a moment forming a relationship with them. There were too many complications, especially with her younger form.

There was another discovery made over time; the more energy she had stored up, the more energetic she felt and the more often and easily she seemed to orgasm. It was a curious relationship, but one that she used to her advantage as a disciplinarian. Her reputation grew somewhat oppressive as she really started going out of her way to bust delinquents. Fortunately Furinkan was chaos personified, and there was no shortage of powerful rabble rousers to drain from.

For a couple of years Hinako went on like that, until she realized something was missing from the sex she was having. It wasn't so much physical, she thought, but something emotional. She tried a wider variety of different lovers, even some that were not quite so handsome or in great shape, but whatever that missing element was continued to elude her. Soon she cut back to picking up men only once a week, and even then she didn't look forward to it like she used to. Sex had somehow become boring.

Another year passed and she decided it was time to risk a relationship.  
Finding 'nice' men wasn't always easy, as attractive as she was, many felt intimidated by her, but she eventually found some that interested her. The pattern was the same in the beginning. She met them only in her adult form,  
keeping her younger form and energy draining a secret. If things worked out,  
the early platonic part of the relationship, which was nice, would become sexual in nature. If things continued working out from there, and she thought they truly loved her as they claimed, she would reveal the truth.

And then the bastards would go running for the hills.

Actually that wasn't exactly true. Some of them did stick around. Although at first what she thought was a god-send turned out to be the opposite as the men would not only not mind her younger form, but want to do things with it that disgusted her in the extreme. Those depraved men were always dealt with most harshly, being drained as much as she dared. But no matter how much time it took for them to recover, it always took Hinako even longer.

The pattern repeated itself for a few years and began to anger Hinako as it continued. The real downward spiral began when she had tried a relationship with a man and didn't let him know of her unique nature. At first things were fine, him seeming to love her for who she was rather than what she looked like. On her part she wasn't quite as attracted to him, and wondered if it was love at all, but she was so desperate for a relationship that she was just glad it was working. But it all ended when they were jumped one night by several muggers. Her man was too weak to fight off even one of the attackers, so she was forced to blast the group to protect them. Her lover's reaction was typical, and the explanation she gave fell on deaf ears. She left the alley adult again, her base betrayer a crumpled mass mixed in with the assailants. She found herself hoping he got mugged again.

Hinako's frustration grew with each failed relationship, coming no closer to that feeling of happiness that continued to elude her. To make matters worse, she had no real friends to speak of, just acquaintances and co-workers. She felt too blasted lonely, and it wore upon her. She grew bitter, and many of the students at the school paid the price. She was given the title of 'Head Bitch' and knew she deserved it. She was one, after all.  
She supposed she could have changed, but she just felt so frustrated and angry that she had to take it out on others. The rush she got from draining was about the only thing that made her happy, and she ended up deriving even a bit of pleasure at watching students squirm in fear from her. Power over others in any form tended to be an aphrodisiac to most, and Hinako was no exception.

She was giving up hope that she would ever get satisfyingly laid again. She was forty now, and she knew that even with her incredible looks and a body that was nearly as fit and trim as when she was twenty (a pleasant side effect of being a child part of the time, gravity didn't take its toll on her like it did her contemporaries), it was getting increasingly hard to interest men. They all wanted younger girls, inexperienced little sluts,  
rather than a mature woman that could really show them a good time. That jealousy was probably why she now had a tendency to treat the girls more harshly than the boys; she resented the easy time they had of picking up men.

The lack of sex took its toll. Lately, she had become so desperate she had actually tried hitting upon some of the unmarried teachers, all of which were at the bottom of the desirability level. Worse, most of them were afraid of her. She had tried to be nicer around them, even going go far as to wear daringly low cut outfits that showed off her ample bust and skirts that barely covered her bottom. Even her underwear was of the expensive,  
silky kind. She had received some scared stares (even from the male students), but no offers. Their fear of her only increased her disdain for them.

But Saotome hadn't shown fear, had he? How very unusual. Even Hinako would admit Silver-kun was an exceptional person. And his looks, now that she had gotten a chance to see all of him, there was the sort of man she would have enjoyed banging. She hadn't had a piece of meat the size of his since she was thirty. And he was young too. The young ones always had the most energy,  
even if they tended to be sloppy and thought foreplay was what you did when you removed a woman's panties.

Sitting alone in her classroom during lunch break, thinking such naughty thoughts, Hinako began fondling her breast. She closed her eyes and pictured Silver-kun's washboard flat stomach and jutting dick. If she so desired, she could show him things that would blow his mind. She could send him so high he'd never want to go back to those little school girls he seemed so fond of. Her fingers began dancing across the part of her panties covering her pussy. She could just envision Silver-kun now, beneath her as he cried out her name in ecstac...

"Miss Hinako!"

Her hands were a blur as they left the places on her body and a fifty yen piece appeared in her hand, aimed right at the speaker. He only had time to blink before he was reduced to a deflated sack of flesh.

Hinako walked over to the student, whom she didn't recognize, and stared at him with a look of pure evil. "If you ever breathe a word of what you saw,  
I'll drain you so soundly you'll never be able to get your minuscule dick up again! Do you understand?!"

The mass quivered.

Hinako smirked. She recognized true fear, and it was in this boy now.

The pitiful wretches always caved in to her.

It seemed to take an eternity for classes to end. But at last they did, and after her students filtered out of the room she was teaching them, she started to make her way back to her own homeroom in the corner of the third floor.

Hinako decided to take her time, allowing young Saotome to simmer in anticipation of his fate. He had made a mistake in thinking he could stand up to her, the young fool. She would show him. He could preen about her all he wanted with his hard cock and turn her on, but she could do the same. She could drive him up the wall in a frenzy with her looks alone and make him forget the little slut that had been giving him oral satisfaction.

Undoing the top two buttons of her already low cut blouse, Hinako allowed an absolutely indecent amount of cleavage to show. Enough of the valley between her braless breasts was visible that she knew Silver-kun could not help imagining what it would be like to slide his dick between the two massive mounds. There wasn't much she could do about the skirt by itself, it was already incredibly small to begin with and just barely concealed her rounded bottom. The best she could to was to bend over far at least once and flash him her underwear, and maybe even what was covered underneath.

The plan was simple: she would use torture by tantalizing him with her body while she crushed his spirit with her punishment. She wagered he'd be broken inside fifteen minutes, maybe as few as ten. That would be proper punishment for his open defiance.

Hinako was half-way there when she decided to get a little extra preparation for her meeting with the delinquent. She took a roundabout course on the first floor until she spotted a large member of the track team, a shot putter if she remembered correctly, grabbing a drink of water before going to after school practice.

"You let your mouth touch the spigot. That's unsanitary, you delinquent!"  
She drained him dry, leaving his crumpled body on the ground. A moment later she caught another member tossing a candy bar wrapper at a trash can and miss. She nailed him as a litterer, not giving him a chance to pick up the wrapper.

Now fully charged, and feeling the incredible, almost sexual rush, Hinako headed for her after school meeting.

In the classroom, Silver-kun was about to hit the breaking point. He had been left fume for over twenty minutes. There was concern for what punishment would befall him, anger at Hinako's whole attitude, and worst of all, his now permanently aroused state. He was running so hot, he wasn't cure if even a fucking would cure him. Even the Miroku scent he was giving off increased in intensity as his body moved ever closer to the breaking point.

He was about to whip out his dick and give himself some relief, consequences of being caught disregarded, when Hinako showed up at last. She sauntered into the room, smugly smiling in her 'prey's' direction, when the pent up smell of Miroku juice arousal hit her like a sledgehammer. Her hand was nearly shaking as she closed and locked the door behind her in case Silver-kun was unable to deal with the tongue lashing that was coming and try to make a break for it. More than one student had tried to tearfully leave the room in the middle of a reprimand, and Hinako would take no chances this time.

Using all the skills she had picked up over the years in catching the interest of men, Hinako sexily made her way to the desk that Silver was sitting at. It was one of new, larger ones that she rather liked. They were almost the size of a small table, and made the student's sitting at them appear smaller. Oddly, the didn't seem to apply to Silver-kun, who appeared as tall as ever.

Hinako said nothing at first, instead leveling the same lustful glare that he had directed at her as he left the girl's locker room. It was easy,  
considering how turned on she was by Silver-kun's impressive masculine presence and the scent in the air.

"Well, well, Mr. Saotome," she purred as she paused in front of him, half turned so her hip and shapely ass were right next to his eyes. "It looks like I have you trapped in my lair at last. You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment." The words were calculated, each one intended to have the effect of either expressing her own sensuality or turn Silver-kun on. She noted how he just remained sitting, staring at her with an even more intense look than what he had worn in the locker room.

She pulled a pen from a pocket and played with it in her hands. "From the first day you arrived, you've been nothing but trouble. You're loud. You're disruptive. You encourage rowdy behavior in others. You flaunt the rules like no other has before and constantly get away with your deviant little behaviors."

It was as she was in the middle of the list that she 'accidentally' dropped the pen in front of the desk across from Silver-kun's. Turning so her back was to him, she slowly bowed down, bending at the waist instead of the knees and all but thrusting her butt in his direction. She could feel the warm air of the room caress her backside, letting her know that Silver-kun had an unrestricted view of her shapely ass barely concealed in tight black panties. If he wanted to, he could easily reach out and touch it, his long fingers dancing across her sensitive flesh, his powerful hands grasping it like she knew he wanted to.

And then she felt the air play against something moist in the front of her pussy. She couldn't believe it! She was getting turned on. That wasn't supposed to happen. It was all just an act. And yet there was the unquestionably feel of at least a few drops of moisture leaking from her lower lips. It really had been too long since her last man if she was getting turned on so easily. Not since her first month of sex had she run hot enough to get moist without some sort of stimulation.

Regaining her vertical base, Hinako looked back to Silver-kun yet again,  
examining his eyes closely. Oh yes, that lustful look was back with twice the fury that had been there before. Her little plan was working, even if it was having the unanticipated effect of making her horny as well.

Hinako changed her position by moving to the front of the desk and placing a hand on her hip, looking down at Silver-kun from a dominant position. "Look at yourself. You don't even wear regulation clothing. You insist on wearing those Chinese ensembles, again flaunting the rules by refusing to conform and be like everyone else. You might think your curse gives you some leeway,  
but not in my book. It's just another sign of what a poor influence you are to both other students and this school."

The scent continued to affect Hinako as she bent forward, thrusting her chest out slightly and allowing Silver-kun an unrestricted view of her generous cleavage. As much as Hinako was pushing her bosom forward, she was slightly worried that her barely restrained globes might spill out right in front of Silver-kun. The poor boy would probably pass out from the nearly divine sight, and that would not do at all. She still wanted to torment him.  
"And then there's your unacceptably scandalous behavior. You seem to think you're a gift from the gods themselves to both men and women. I've seen you flirt with members of both sexes brazenly and in front of everyone. You don't even understand the concept of shame. What would your parents think if they saw you behave in such a manner? Believe me, they'll know."

The disciplinarian shifted her chest slightly, jiggling just a little for her audience's benefit, though the way the material brushed across her hardened nipples served to arouse her as well. She could imagine the hard on Silver-kun was sporting now. He could probably hammer a line drive out of the ball park with it, the poor dear. And there was no relief to be had either. It almost made her feel sorry she for the way she was teasing him.  
Almost.

Hinako was really starting to get into it now. She changed positions again and sat on the desk, at first just giving Silver-kun her side, but then shifting forward, as though the desk top was a chair. She placed her long legs in front of him, giving a flash of the front of her panties before hiding them from view once more by closing her legs. "And to make matters worse, somehow you've managed to seduce a good number of those gullible little girls, no doubt using them for sex and discarding them, like most of your worthless kind. Though it's not as if the little dears know the first thing about satisfying a man. Still, they deserve better than having some delinquent nest himself between their little legs just to give himself off."

Hinako felt herself getting increasingly hot from her talk. It would be best to end it now. She would give him one last chance before rendering final judgment upon him and breaking him for good. "You've had it here, Mr.  
Saotome. Your delinquent ways have finally come to a close, and you'll get your just desserts. Now, before I administer your punishment, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Silver-kun looked her straight in the eye. "Just one thing: I'm going to fuck your ass raw, bitch."

Hinako stared at him wide eyed for a moment, unable to say a word. It took her a moment to stammer out, "H...How dare you speak to a teacher like that!"

Silver-kun stood up so quickly his chair shot out and hit the desk behind him. Standing, he above eye-level with Hinako, who was still sitting on the desk in front of him. He leaned forward, getting so close that she could feel his warm breath blow across her face. There was a feral grin across his features as he said, "Teacher? You lost any right to call yourself that when you started strutting your goods in my face like some dog in heat. You think I didn't know what you were doing? You think you can stick your tits in my face, practically rubbing your ass up and down my cock, and I'm just going to sit here and take it from you? I've got news for you; I don't care what sort of woman you think you are. The truth is, you are an uptight,  
holier-than-thou, stuck up, dicktease that's going to get what's been coming to her for way too long now."

For the first time in recent memory, Hinako felt scared. This boy, no, this man, was refusing to back down to her in the slightest. Despite her best efforts, all she had done was fuel his lust and push him over the brink. No hollow threats were these: he was going to do his best to take her right there. And he could do it too. She had seen him in action and knew his strength and skill. Her heart was hammering as she panicked for a moment before remembering what she was: a disciplinarian. And not only that, she was disciplinarian with the ability to drain a football team dry with a single coin.

She brought out a fifty yen piece and started to bring her hands forward.  
"Happo Fifty-"

All Hinako saw was a blur in front of her, and then suddenly both of her hands were pinned above her head, the fifty yen piece sent flying. She had no chance to recover as Silver-kun pressed his advantage by leaning forward and thrusting her onto her back on the desk. Everything above her shoulderblades was past the edge of the desk, her long brown hair hanging down, while her hips were pushed forward to the very edge where Silver-kun stood. He leaned over her, one large and powerful hand clamping both of her wrists together over head with ease while his pelvis lay between her wide open legs. He remained standing, his handsome, smirking face directly above hers.

Now Hinako was truly scared. Never had she been in so helpless a position.  
He had her under his complete control, and given his hungry smile, he knew it. Instead of the hunter, she now found herself the hunted, and she had no control over the situation in the least.

She tried re-exerting some authority, desperate to do something, anything.  
"Mr. Saotome, if you don't release me this instant, I'll scream." Instead of the voice stern teacher she knew herself to be, it was that of the meek and frightened thirteen year old inside.

With total conviction, he said, "No, you won't." And he brought his lips down on hers.

It wasn't a kiss, it was closer to rape as his tongue thrust and forced its way in, ravaging her mouth, and through that to her very spirit. After a single moment's resistance, Hinako responded by allowing it to take place, a willing participant to her savaging.

Silver-kun's hand slipped under the blouse and moved upward to embrace the bounty that lay beneath. He played roughly with the breast, kneading it before tweaking the nipple. He removed his lips from her to leave her gasp at the way she was being manhandled, both physically and in spirit.

His hand moved away from the breasts, leaving Hinako to gasp at the loss of contact before feeling that the hand had relocated itself between her legs.

"D...Don't," she managed to get out.

"Shut up!" Silver-kun ordered his he pulled the gusset of the panties aside and played with the lips beneath. He was surprised at what he discovered.  
"Christ, you're like a fountain down here."

She watched helplessly as he brought the hand to his mouth and licked the fingers clean, obviously enjoying the taste her loins were producing. It was true. She could no longer deny it. No matter how she would verbally protest,  
her body was betraying her, longing for this touch, no matter how her pride was being taken from her.

But years of being in control would not rest so easily. A plan came to mind.  
Softly, in a sultry voice that had made men fall to their knees in prayer for her riches, Hinako purred, "Let my hands go so I can run them up and down your shaft. I know lots of techniques that you will enjoy. Trust me."  
Trust her to blast him with her Happo Coin Return, she meant.

Silver-kun shot an eyebrow up at that and remained silent. That was something Hinako had not expected. Men were like putty in her hands when she made such offers to please them. After another moment of consideration he smiled. Hinako knew that she had him as his hand slid to her loins again.

Or at least she thought she did until he tugged her panties, ripping them off with a quick tear. He held the black piece of fabric in front of her face, dangling it above her. "You talk too much. Now open up."

Hinako was stunned. "What are yUMPH!" The rest of her protest was cut off as Silver-kun, jammed the torn panties in her mouth, the power of two of his fingers sufficient to keep her mouth open until the rest of his dexterous fingers forced the garment completely in her mouth. Once all the way in, he removed his fingers and forced her mouth closed.

"Keep it shut," Silver-kun warned. "What I'm going to do to you will have you screaming, bitch, and we don't want to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves."

The threat grabbed Hinako's heart in an icy hand. What did he have in store for her? Her imagination ran rampant with a thousand different ideas, from fucking her, to leaving her alone. She was amazed to discover she didn't know which was worse.

Silver-kun looked at his new conquest. The Miroku juice was now in full effect, and he would not be denied the release he had been waiting for all day. It made him behave in ways that had never occurred to him before, the need never being so great within him. Hinako's attitude had all but sealed her fate. She had directly challenged him, teasing, no, daring him to try something with her. Well, in his current shape, he was more than happy to answer the challenge.

Judging by her protests, he wondered if she had understood just how badly she had wanted him. That feeling was betrayed in her every move, her every breath, her every glance. If she had lied to herself about wanting to fuck him, then he was going to break through that facade and leave her begging for his attention.

Silver-kun termed her bitch, and unlike most of his loveplay, he meant it concerning Hinako. She was one, busting everyone's ass for her own pleasure,  
and had to be treated as such. He would get her to admit that as well. He was only just starting to crack this nut. She hadn't' seen anything yet.

Flipping her over onto her stomach on top of the desk, Silver-kun kept his hands locked around her wrists. The tease was still dangerous to him, but he would soon cure her of that. He used both of his hands to bring her arms behind her back. Holding them in one hand again, watching for any attempts to break away, he undid and removed the drawstring of his pants. He used the light cord to tie Hinako's wrists together securely, making absolutely sure she couldn't slip out of them. Bondage was something Silver-kun only had a passing familiarity with, but he was a quick study and had an agile mind.

Hinako became even further frightened when she felt her hands tied behind her back. Silver-kun had been correct in his assessment; there was no way she could slip out of her bonds. She was now helpless. Her faith began to waver as hope deserted her and left her at the mercy of a man who was intent to screw her silly.

Hinako was roughly flipped over on her back again, in the same position as before save her arms being secured behind her. Silver-kun undid the buttons on her shirt, and paused a moment to admire the beautiful bounty presented before him. He grabbed the edges of the shirt again, then realized he had made a slight oversight: he couldn't remove it past his prey's bound wrists.

Mulling it over for a moment, Silver-kun shrugged and said, "Oh well," and then ripped the blouse from Hinako's body, allowing him unlimited access to her upper torso. Now that was more like it.

Hinako shuddered at the violent action, but at the same time felt a thrill run through her. What was happening? Why was she not more terrified of him?  
Why had she felt excited at his behavior?

Her train of thought was broken as he slipped her skirt from her waist and allowed it to fall from the floor. The final item removed was her shoes,  
which left her naked as a newborn babe.

Silver-kun leered at Hinako's body, admiring the voluptuous form. It didn't matter that she was older than him, older than his parents, in truth; she was still incredibly hot. Her tits were enormous, at least D-cups that didn't show a hint of sag. And the nipples! They were so very large and one of the most suckable he had ever seen. Her ass was ample, but in a way that was filled out rather than too big. It was the ass of a woman, not a girl.  
And it was so very firm, despite its size. Silver-kun would tell that just by looking. Her bush was nicely trimmed, with red lips that were already moist in anticipation for what was to come. Only Hinako's face gave away her true age, and the didn't matter to Silver-kun in the least. She had the total package.

Now it was time to savor the prey that had been caught in the trap. He leaned forward again, much happier at having both hands free, and proceeded to lick and suck Hinako's nipples in earnest. He went back and forth between them, lavishing equal attention upon each. His hands squeezed and mashed,  
treating the twin mounds like a giant plush doll. Hinako moaned through her gag, guiltily enjoying the attention as her breasts were suckled for the first time in years.

A slight moan of disappointment escaped Hinako's gag as Silver-kun stopped sucking her nipples. Her distress was short lived as she watched Silver-kun removed his cheogsam, allowing her to admire the hard muscles that lined his chest. His arms were large, but not overly so the way a power lifter's was.  
A broad chest more than hinted at the power that resided within. Silver-kun allowed her the liberty of reveling in him before dropping his pants and boxers at the same time. He smiled as he watched Hinako's eyes widen.

The last time the disciplinarian had seen Silver-kun's shaft she had thought it was big, but now it seemed to be even larger, with the bulbous head deep purple and the veins along the shaft prominent. Had she been free, she thought she would have gone down on her knees and happily sucked it dry.

Silver-kun basked in the obvious desire that was so noticeable on Hinako's face. Part of him, the part that had him running hot all day, desperately wanted to simply stick his straining dick in and get some release, but his patience won out. He had to do this carefully, not giving in to quick desire if everything was going to go his way in the manner that he wanted it.  
Besides, in playing with Hinako, he discovered that his appetite was slightly satiated, as though he was indulging in a salad before being served the main course. He could hold out a little while longer.

"Raise your legs up," Silver-kun commanded.

Reluctantly, unsure of what was going to happen next, Hinako did as she was ordered and stuck them straight up high into the air. Seeing him standing between her legs, cock standing at attention, she wondered (hoped?) he was going to do what he was in position for. She gave a faint moan at the idea of being speared with his rod, but was uncertain if it was spawned from fear or lust.

Hinako was spared the answer as Silver-kun ran his hands down her legs,  
starting at the heel and working his way down. "Nice and strong. Good muscle tone," he said in an admiring tone, taking a moment to run his tongue down each. "You leave them up in the air, or else," Silver-kun warned.

Having no choice, Hinako did as she was commanded. He ran his finger over her mound, penetrating it slightly. He brought the finger out and pointed it straight up, almost as though he was making a point. Perhaps in a way he was, as he brought the finger forward and pointed it at Hinako's face. Her attention was riveted to it, almost as though she were hypnotized. He smirked, then ran it over her face. There was no mistaking what the wet substance was that left a trail where his finger wandered.

"Now you see?" he teased. "No matter how much your smart little mouth can try to deny it, your body knows the truth; it's begging me to fuck you like a hundred yen slut."

Hinako gave a moan of dismay, wanting but unable to deny the truth. She did want it. She wanted to be screwed badly. She wanted him to put her legs over his shoulders, sink his entire shaft in, and make her cum until she was the one drained of energy. She would punish him later for his effrontery, but that would wait until he made her feel satisfied.

The anticipation was palpable as Hinako waited for him to service her, but rather than bury his dick in her pussy, she watched in dismay as all but the top of his head disappeared as he crouched down and out of sight. The reason for this became obvious as she felt his tongue start at the bottom of her slit and work its way up to the top, then back down, moving in long steady,  
patient strokes.

The tongue action only served to stoke her fires rather than put them out.  
She could feel his fingers and tongue peel back the outer labia and into the reward that awaited inside. It took only moments for Silver-kun's tongue to find what it sought; the clitoris.

Playing with her 'love button' nearly overwhelmed Hinako. Other men had given her oral pleasure, but never had she been in such a state of arousal at the time. She let her legs spasm with the sensations and waver downward as she felt herself on the verge of the first non self-stimulated orgasm she had in over two years.

But then the fingers were removed and the tongue stopped its action. Still on the edge, Hinako whined in protest as she had been teased in far more vicious and effective manner than anything she had done to Silver-kun.

Her eyes pleaded with him as he stood up to his full height, looking upon Hinako with disapproval. His fingers nestled in the tiny hairs of pussy, but refused to do anything else Oh how she wished her mouth was free so that she could ask, no demand that he continue the task he had started.

Scowling at what he saw in her eyes, Silver-kun tightened his grip and pulled. Hinako gave a cry into her gag as pleasure turned to pain with just the twist of the wrist.

Silver-kun continued scowling, as though he had been the one mortally offended. He showed her the tiny quartet of vaginal hairs held between his fingers. "Do you know why I did that to you?"

Hinako's glare told him all he needed to know. He placed his hand on top of her mound again, this time being rewarded with a look of fear. Good. She was learning.

"I told you to keep those legs up in the air. You let them sag enough to hit me in the top of the head. Bad move," he explained with sterness in his voice. "Don't let it happen again. Do you understand?"

Hinako glared right up to the moment his grip tightened. She nodded her head, feigning submission. If he wanted to play this game, fine. Once it was over, she would show him what it meant to be truly disciplined.

But another part of her mind, a part that sounded like a mix between a thirteen year old and a forty year old, rebelled at that idea. It told her to give up her pride and submit, allowing Silver-kun to do as he wanted and take her to plateaus of delight that she was on the verge of discovering.

No! That couldn't be! She had always been the one in charge before. She was a disciplinarian. The boy was less than half her age. She could not submit to someone so young, even if he did know how to suck her breasts and eat her pussy (and with tremendous skill, too). She had to resist.

She raised her legs high in acquiescence. Silver-kun nodded in appeasement when they remained still. The part of Hinako that was a mix of ages sang a tune of joy at its lover's approval, which in turn made Hinako's resolve to punish Silver-kun lessen.

Again he plunged his tongue in her soft folds. More quickly this time he took her to the edge of the precipice. This time she tried to be mindful of the legs, but it was increasingly difficult with how well she was being tongue-lashed. No one could have been expected to fight those kind of wonderful sensations and not squirm in pleasure from them.

It was as her legs began to spasm uncontrollably, despite all of her efforts, that she suspected it was a trap. Silver-kun didn't want to pleasure her. He wanted to punish her, abuse her, and was just setting her up by telling her not to do something, then making her do it. She felt like bursting out into tears. It wasn't fair.

Just as Hinako felt her legs about to give out altogether, the soft touch of Silver-kun's hands rose up to grasp the backs of her knees. Exerting a little force, they helped keep her legs in mid-air and continued complete access to her lower regions. That made her sigh in relief . He didn't want to punish her after all, just test her resolve. And most importantly,  
judging by his continued tongue lashing, she had passed.

Hinako could feel herself at the edge when the lapping sensation stopped again. She left off a soft, feminine whine of protest through her gags and wondered what she had done wrong this time.

Silver-kun stood up from between her legs, admiring the view. Her nude form was one of the most gorgeous sights he had ever lay eyes upon. The entirety of her body was flush with passion from the lashing he had given her thus far. He sensed she was at the edge and could have finished her off at any time, but that wouldn't do. She still wasn't quite ready yet. But soon, very soon now. There were just several more things he had to do.

Hinako was brought roughly to her feet by her newfound lover. She looked at him in confusion until he sat down on a chair, pulling her with him and laying her across his lap. This wasn't what she wanted at all. He couldn't possibly screw her in this position. Why wasn't he fucking her, or at least continuing to eat her out ?

The first muffled question she wanted to ask never made it out as she felt a hard smack applied to her buttcheeks. The sound of the hand meeting flesh echoed though the room. An inarticulate cry of surprise and pain joined hot on its heels. No playful smack had that been, but one with real force behind it.

"You stupid, stupid bitch," Silver-kun said harshly as his hand struck Hinako's posterior once again, causing even her firm asscheecks to waver. He felt her twist at the pain of her behind's unexpected abuse. "You think I didn't know what you were up to? You think I believed you when you told me you were going to behave?" He struck again, leaving a red handmark where hand met flesh.

Each sentence became punctuated with a smack, each one equally hard. "I knew you were lying to me, with those eyes of yours." *Smack* "What were you going to do, try and drain me once I got done satisfying you?" *Smack* "This isn't about pleasuring you, bitch, it's about pleasuring me." *Smack* "Don't ever think for one second it's about anything else." *Smack* "If you cum,  
it's because I want you to, and for no other reason." *Smack*.

The spanking continued causing tears to pour down Hinako's face. It wasn't just from the pain from the blows to her rear, it was from the complete loss of dignity as well. Whatever illusions she had at maintaining it were gone.  
The tiny mixed-age voice in her head, that had become louder with each smack, was now cheering at how someone was at last disciplining her. The force of it made Hinako remember the voice. It had been with her for years,  
ever since she was teenager. Back then she had refused to listen to it and the forbidden things it whispered in her ear. They were wrong, or so she felt. Over time, it had become so silent that it was all but forgotten, but with Silver-kun's manhandling of her, it had come back with a vengeance,  
proving it had been waiting all this time for just the right person to let it (Hinako's own suppressed desires) free.

Finally she gave up all pretense of resistance, freely submitting herself to be disciplined in the way she had always wanted. She deserved it. She had been a bad girl, a true bitch. A part of her wondered if she had behaved that way simply as a cry of wanting someone to come forth and put her in her place and treat her like Silver-kun was now.

And then the smacks stopped. Instead, his powerful hand, which had administered so much pain began massaging the abused cheeks instead. Hinako marveled at the way his finger tips seemed to soothe her sore bottom, making a tiny bit of the pain go away. Then his fingers brushed against her pussy,  
causing her to shudder at the contact. If only he would do that to her instead. She would beg for it like a dog if he would give it to her. But she held out no hopes for that. He just wanted to administer his own form of vengeance for teasing him with her body. Now he was going to take what she had tempted him with, something that was now his by right.

Silver-kun paused for a moment, sensing what her trembling meant and hiding his smile. She was in the palm of his hand now, all he had to do was close it to make her his own.

He bent as low as he could with her draped across his lap, cupping her chin and moving her head back enough so she could see him out of the corner of her eye. Running his other hand along her face, he wiped away the tears that had run down. Her eyes were still red from the crying, but there was no defiance in them like before. Oh yes, she was ready for him.

"You're going to behave yourself from now on, aren't you?" He moved the free hand away from her face and positioned it to rest on her backside, squeezing just enough to remind her of where it was and what he could do with it.

Hinako nodded her head enthusiastically, wanting to please him as much as stopping the abuse.

"Good girl. I like that," Silver-kun's voice all but purred in approval.  
"You want to be my bitch now, don't you?"

There was hope in her now. Before, she had feared Silver-kun simply wanted to hurt her and that his teasing before was just another form of torture.  
But now, now there was a chance he wanted something more than someone to take vengeance on for her naughty behavior. He said he wanted her to be his 'bitch,' and she wanted to give herself to him in every way he wanted.

Silver-kun massaged her buttcheeks with his hand. The former arousal that had commanded his attention when Hinako had first entered the room had returned. There was little he would have preferred to sticking his meat up her wet pussy, but he had to insure that Hinako would NEVER spill her guts as to what happened in the locker room. Although with the way his Miroku influenced mind was working and the solution it had come up with, well, the method of securing her discretion was proving most enjoyable.

A firm smack swatted Hinako's bottom. Not like the ones before, but still enough to sting given how sore she was. "Since you're my bitch now, that means you're not going to be a bitch to anyone else. You're going to have to change. Do you understand?"

Hinako nodded her head quickly. To be his woman, she would learn to walk on water if she had to. Treating people more pleasantly would be easy.

Her nod was rewarded with a massaging of the area that he had swatted.  
"Good."

Hinako enjoyed the light touch, moaning in approval as his callused hands played with her firm buttcheek. The massage stopped and she received another firm, but not harsh, smack. She was amazed to discover that the lighter smacks, though a bit painful, were serving to arouse her. The wetness was returning between her legs, and her loins were crying out for what felt like the hundredth time in less than twenty minutes for some form of release.

"You're going to apologize to Megs. Then you're going to treat those in your classes you have wronged especially nice. Like Ryo Hibiki and Yuriko Kuonji,  
got that?"

Hinako nodded again, and was rewarded with the massage, as well as finger dragged across her pussy. Now the pattern was beginning to form. He was stating his rules and reminding her what punishment for defiance meant,  
while her obedience would be rewarded. She very greatly wanted to be obedient.

Another soft smack. "From now on you do what I say, whenever I say it. The next time you catch me in the locker room, you'll be the one that ends up giving me head. Got it?"

Hinako nodded as she ground her legs together, trying to find a way to stimulate herself enough to get off.

A hard smack cracked her ass, disrupting her ministrations. Silver-kun stared down at her in disapproval. "I didn't tell you to cum yet, did I?"

Hinako shook her head, desperate to stay in her new master's good graces.  
Remarkably, she felt genuinely ashamed of her behavior.

Silver-kun nodded and reassured her with a finger plunged two knuckles into her pussy. "You're telling the truth. Good girl. Now isn't that much better than the lies you told me before?"

Hinako nodded as she tried to remain motionless, though it was difficult.  
She felt like crying from frustration rather than pain. She needed him so bad it was physically hurting.

The dominating play, and enforcement of his rules, was really stoking Silver-kun's fires, and Hinako's complete submission made it all the hotter.  
During the spanking, she had not only quickly broken down, but had eagerly become his willing fuck toy. And now both of them were going to get what they really wanted.

He applied his firm smacks to her behind again fondling her ass cheeks in between and not bothering to ask any more questions. He had known from feeling her pussy she had been getting off on them, and the way she shifted on his lap from each smack served to dance her stomach across his purple cockhead, leaving a trail of pre-cum on her belly. The little grunts she made as he struck, the desire in her eyes for him to get her off, made him so aroused that it became difficult to think. He answered her grunts with his own with each time his hand descended, the kneading of her ass becoming more of a mauling with how hard he was squeezing

And then at last the Miroku juice hit its peak. The world seemed to go red for Silver-kun as he became so animalistic and driven with the need for release that nothing short of death would stop him.

He stood up, Hinako giving a soft squeal of pain as she fell roughly from his lap and landed on her abused bottom. But even the pain wasn't enough to make her needs any less. She wanted to cry. She didn't understand why he had thrown her to the floor. She was being a good girl and didn't need further disciplining. Before, she had been spanked because she had been bad for a very long time and deserved it. And Silver-kun had been so wonderful in meting out her punishment. But now his denial of her release was torture,  
pure and simple. He must have hated her with all of his heart to do this to her. He must.

And then she saw him standing before her. From her position on the ground,  
he seemed a giant with his jutting dick a foot long. And the look he gave her! Never in her life had she seen anyone with a look of such raw lust.  
That glare alone would have made her submit to him. She trembled at the furious intensity that was there, and her heart raced as she knew what was to come.

He snarled as he fell to his knees, then roughly grabbed her ankles and hoisted them over his shoulders. His hands traveled down to her waist as he lined her pussy over his gleaming shaft. Hinako lay there motionless, ready to be claimed.

And then he was in with a single thrust, buried to the hilt and giving out a low roar of satisfaction. The instant the cock 'hit bottom' Hinako climaxed in a wave more powerful than anything, than everything, she had felt before.  
Her body convulsed, and the gag was all but ineffectual as she screamed in ecstasy through it. The orgasm seemed to shoot through every cell of her body, and she was just barely aware of the creamy load Silver-kun was spraying, decorating the walls of her insides with an almost firehose like intensity.

The orgasm was more than physical, more than the mountain that her lover had slowly dragged her up to then pushed off with his rods plunge; it went down to the very depths of her soul. She knew she belonged to this matchless lover with all her being. In that one moment, they had formed what was literally a perfect union. It was heaven.

And then the world went dark for as she passed out from the exertion.

Silver-kun was almost as hot on her heels. He wavered a moment before regaining his form of his normal senses. That had been too much. No way was that natural. Something had to have been affecting him, but damned if it didn't feel good. He didn't think he had ever cum that hard with any woman.  
Had never NEEDED to cum so badly.

He felt his body relax slightly as he detached himself from his new toy's loins. The now reduced level of Miroku juice, while not overwhelming,  
influenced him as examined Hinako's nude form. Her luscious breasts still heaved with each deep breath she took, despite the fact she appeared unconscious. Already some of his cum trickled out her neatly trimmed pussy,  
a testament to just how much he had been storing inside, for he knew most of it had shot deep within her. No way had he ever had that much cream in him before. But it didn't really matter. Anything that made him orgasm that hard, and made him feel that good afterward, couldn't' be bad. And even if it was, he would learn to live with it.

Silver-kun was surprised at his behavior. He had never indulged in this sort of play before, and now was sorry for the potential opportunities missed.  
Though for some reason, he knew it wouldn't have been anywhere near as much fun if it hadn't been Hinako. For her to behave this way, it just seemed so... right to him. He couldn't see trying to break Yuriko, or even Ranko like this. But Hinako was different. She really got into it, and not just because he had done this to her. She wanted it this way. His earlier thought about her needed a good fucking were only half right; she also needed someone to treat her like a tramp and put her 'in her place'. And had he ever done that.

Looking at her closely, he could see her smile, despite her unconscious state. She didn't look like the high and mighty cocktease that entered the room and tried to bust his ass (Not that she had looked like that when she was spread across his lap and having the tar spanked out of her either), But now, she looked happy. Almost content. It was probably the first time he had seen such feelings on her during the entire school year. And he was responsible for it. It made him feel unexpectedly warm.

And Silver-kun could not deny he was attracted to her too, even after the frenzy of orgasming had passed. Who wouldn't be, once her stuck up mask was pulled aside to reveal a woman that just wanted to be pleasured in an unusual way? She was painfully beautiful, even if she was what others would term an 'older woman'. Her little problem with size changing couldn't have made things easy for her either. He now felt sympathy at the hard life she had no doubt led. Perhaps she had been a major bitch, but he was certain there had been reasons.

But now what to do with her? Despite cumming so hard, he could feel a not so far away desire to blow his load in her again. His dick actually seemed to twitch at the mere thought of plugging her again. Definitely it needed at least a little bit more action, and this time he would have better control and patience, not that he had done a bad job the first time. He might have cum on the first stroke, but Hinako sure hadn't seemed to mind.

The remaining supply of Miroku juice, depleted somewhat through orgasming still maintained a strong hold on Silver-kun's thoughts. They colored his perceptions, adding to his normal desires of domination of his new willing partner. Already the arousal of his body was beginning to build up again at inhuman speeds, though without the urgency from before.

He had little doubt she would want more from him again, and who was he to deny wants that coincided so perfectly with his? Besides, she was his now,  
by her own admission, and he wanted to break his new 'bitch' in further and make sure the bindings to him were complete.

An idea quickly came to mind. Bondage was never something he had never indulged in before. But after all, this was a school, and Hinako was a teacher. It was the perfect place for learning new things, was it not?

Hinako was only starting to come around from her unbelievable high when she felt herself being picked up and moved. A second later she was put down,  
stomach first, on something hard. Her legs were dangling over the edge and touching the floor. She only just started to find the strength to move them again.

The cord binding her wrists was removed. However, her hands were quickly grabbed again and her arms brought forward and over the front of edge of the wide desk. She didn't' try to resist as she felt her wrists bound together once more. The excess cord was tied around the cross bar between the steel legs of the desk, immobilizing her arms once again.

She raised her head slightly, and tried to speak, but all that came out were muffled tones through her gag. Almost full awareness had returned. She couldn't' move, but she could see Silver-kun picking up the remains of her blouse and walking back towards her.

He walked up next to her and paused for a moment to smile. "Don't worry, I'm not finished with you yet, not by a long shot."

Hinako almost purred as he maneuvered into position behind her, but rather than sticking his man meat inside, she felt him play with her legs. A moment later, his intent became clear as she felt the strips of cloth bind her leg to steel desk leg. The other one followed, leaving her unable to do anything other than crane her neck around. The feeling of real helplessness excited her. Truly she was his to do with as he pleased.

He moved back in front of her. "Open your mouth."

She did so, and the gag was removed. It was only after its removal that Hinako realized how dry it had been, her moisture sucked up by the panties.  
She summoned some spit to try to moisten it once again.

Silver-kun watched her for a moment. "Mouth dry? I got something for that."  
He waved his semi-hard dick before her mouth. "Look at this thing. Your pussy juice got it all wet. Time to clean it off."

He grabbed her forcefully by the head. She knew what was expected of her and opened her mouth. That open consent brought a smile to Silver-kun's face as he shoved half his length in. He drew back with his hips, then pushed forward again. Hinako went limp as she allowed her mouth to be used as make-shift pussy, though she'd have preferred Silver-kun to stick it the real thing. Blow jobs had never really held that much interest for her, but for her new lover, she'd force herself to learn to appreciate them like never before. Especially since her mouth seemed to tingle from the contact of his rod, a tingling which made her want more. Very odd.

Eventually, he pushed all of his semi-erect rod to the hilt, his pubic hairs mashing against Hinako's nose and lips. She could feel his shaft get harder and longer with each thrust. Helping him along, she began to employ some tongue action, letting it play across the member as it was forced in and out of her mouth. That elicited a groan of approval, as well as making it harder still. The way she was being used turned Hinako on. She could feel herself becoming aroused again, and hoped Silver-kun would refrain from blowing his load down her throat.

Her wishes were realized as he removed his now fully erect shaft from her mouth. He squatted to eye level with her, and gave her a look of approval that made her heart soar. "I like this mouth. It's got a nice feel to it."  
He then tilted her head back, almost painfully, and kissed her, forcing her mouth open and jamming in his tongue. She wholeheartedly accepted the ravishing her mouth was receiving far more than the oral action she had just been subject to.

Breaking off the kiss, Silver-kun smiled, then moved behind her. Being unable to see what was happening, Hinako allowed her other senses to take over. She listened carefully to Silver-kun moving behind her, eventually fondling her still sore bottom. Something drew across the lips of her pussy and she gave an "Oh yes," of approval. A moment later, with his hands repositioned on her hips, she felt what could only be the head of a dick force its way in (though not much force was required). He buried its entire length in her within three thrusts, causing Hinako to tremble in pleasure.

Silver-kun remained silent as he began pistoning in and out of Hinako's pussy, savoring the sensations from the perfect fitting. Unlike before, he took his time, calculating each stroke as they brought him ever closer to his goal.

With her gag removed, Hinako bit down on her lip to keep from crying out loud. It was unbelievable. Never in all of her life had she become so hot so quickly. It only added to the feeling that this was the element that had been missing from her life before. How had she ever felt alive without Silver-kun to administer this kind of pleasure to her?

Soon only the sound of pounding flesh and heavy breathing filled the room.  
He continued pumping, increasing the speed and force so that his sack slapped against her pussy, which caused her to bite down harder. He was now pounding her hard enough to cause her upper body to move with each thrust.  
Her breasts moved back and forth in accordance with his dick, the sensitive nipples rubbing against the cool desk top. She absolutely loved the way she was being used by Silver-kun to bring himself pleasure. Truly she belonged to him in every way.

Silver-kun sighed in delight at the feeling of Hinako's slick passageway hugging his cock. Screwing a mature woman was different from the younger lovers he had known. Hinako might not have been considered nubile, but she was deliciously filled out in all of the right places. Definitely one of his most memorable conquests. The general differences themselves were neither better nor worse; each type of woman had her own unique feel. And Hinako felt, very, very, good.

Hinako felt the fires build up to a crescendo. She was certain that Silver-kun was going to tease her again by pulling out and letting her squirm in longing like before. But not this time. He continued to pump furiously away. Poised right at the verge, she begged, "Please don't stop."  
She was rewarded by an unbelievably hard thrust that moved both her and the entire desk a handful of inches. That did it, triggering the orgasm she had so desperately wanted. It was delightful, even if it wasn't as mind numbing as the last. Her body trembled and quivered at the release.

She was coming so hard she was unaware of the fact Silver-kun had removed his dick with her first spasm. Rather than entering again, he fell to his knees and immediately clamped his mouth around her pussy. He gratefully accepted the bounty that flowed so easily down her puffy lips, the amount a testimony at just how hard she was cumming. The woman was unbelievable.

Once Hinako came down from her high, and Silver-kun was convinced he had enough, he moved away from between her legs and towards her head again. She looked up at him, standing silently before her. When he bent down and pulled her head back, she thought she knew what to expect and opened her mouth in anticipation for another kiss.

She got more than she bargained. Silver-kun did indeed lower his mouth to hers. But rather than a tongue, she felt him force both of his lips into her larger mouth and spit something liquid in. As he pulled back, he forced her mouth shut, though some of the substance spilled out of her mouth and dribbled down her chin.

Realizing she had no choice, Hinako swallowed the substance. It had a sweet flavor to it, unlike anything she had ever tasted before.

Silver-kun gave a nod of approval. "Yeah, that was your own cum. I decided to share some of your sweet little honeypot with you. Tastes good, doesn't it?"

"Very," Hinako purred in her sultry voice. It was the first time she had ever tasted a woman's cum, and her own no less. How very kinky. Also, it had the added benefit of making her throat not feel dry any longer.

The cursed 'girl' bent low, so that his face was only a few centimeters from hers and gave her a harsh stare. "But it looks like you missed a little on your chin."

That caused Hinako to cringe slightly. Was that a hint of disapproval in his voice? She wasn't sure. Was she going to be punished for allowing some to spill out?

The answer came when his gaze switched from harsh to soft and ran his tongue along the line of her jaw, tracing the trail of spit and cum that had escaped her mouth. Even Silver-kun was taken aback by the look of affection that Hinako gave him in response to his gesture.

Standing up, he smirked at her bound form. "Time to finish you off." He maneuvered behind her once again.

Hinako's body stiffened in anticipation of what was to come. She wanted him to make her cum again, and wanted to feel him orgasm within her as well.  
Maybe he would repeat his previous action, sharing a mixture of both their juices this time.

However, his movement seemed different as Hinako felt her ass forced down slightly. She wasn't left wondering what he was up to for long as she felt the head of his member press not against the lips of her pussy, but somewhere else entirely.

"Not in the ass," she protested. Anal sex was one of the few things she had never engaged in. It seemed too dirty and disgusting. The few men that tried to persuade her to do it, she convinced to take her pussy instead.

Hinako felt the cockhead move back from the nether opening, but it didn't switch to her pussy either. She was left confused as to what was happening,  
wishing she could see her lover and what he was doing. His hands tighten on her hips, and she felt a dread rise up in her stomach.

"So you don't want to get fucked in the ass, do you?"

The note of disapproval was clear in his voice. Now Hinako understood her mistake. She had defied him: an unacceptable act in their new relationship.  
She considered lying, but feared that might elicit some form of punishment.  
"No." She kept the answer simple, praying it wouldn't offend him.

"You'd rather be fucked in your pussy, right?"

Now his voice sounded lighthearted and friendly, which frightened her more than the disapproval since there was no reason for it. Reluctantly, forcing the words from her mouth, she said, "Yes."

She felt his hand start fondling her rear. "Well, we do seem to have something of a dilemma. You see, the problem with that is I want to do you in the can. You do recall me promising to fuck your ass raw, right?"

Hinako began trembling. She had forgotten that. "Yes, but I thought it was just a threat."

His hand gave a playful slap to her backside. That made her tremble harder.  
Obviously his displeasure was immense.

"Miss Hinako, when have I ever said I was going to do something to you that I didn't do?"

A tear fell down her cheek at the formality he used when saying her name.  
She didn't just want to be a teacher to him. She wanted to apologize, to say something to make it up to him, but she didn't know what, so instead she remained silent.

The hand slapped her butt playfully again. "So here's our problem. I want to fuck you in the ass, but you say no. You want your pussy fucked, but I'm not in the mood for that anymore. So what should we do? What should we do?" He pretended to ponder that for a moment, then loudly made a declaration as though the idea had just come to him. "I know. I'll go down to where the kendo team is practicing, they always practice after school about now, and invite them up here to fuck your sweet little pussy. Why, we can have a good old fashioned gang-bang."

Hinako jerked in shock. "No! Not that!"

His hand slid around her hips, gripping them tight. He pretended he didn't hear her protest and continued. "Can you imagine what it'll be like to have ten or fifteen guys filling your pussy one after another? One blasts his load and then another follows, and then another, and then another until it all blends into one. You might not even realize they're switching on you."

"No please," Hinako begged. More tears began to flow. "You can't do that to me! I'll be disgraced."

Silver-kun chuckled. "Oh, I think I can do whatever I want with you tied up." He tugged at one of her leg bonds. "And so can they. They've all probably fantasized about doing you. You are so incredibly beautiful. Hell,  
I want to decorate your gorgeous ass with my cum right now. Can you imagine what those hard up guys that almost never get laid will be like once they see you tied up and your receptive little pussy waiting for them, begging for their loads? That's what the view looks like to me. I bet each one will want to do you two or three times at least. Being as young and virile as they are, you know they can."

"No, no. Please don't." Hinako pleaded with all of her heart, knowing how right he was. They would use her as nothing more than a receptacle for their adolescent fantasies. They weren't real men, like Silver-kun. They were like all the others over the years and didn't know how to truly get her off.  
"Don't let them have their way with me. I'm not their bitch, I'm yours.  
You're the only one I want to do me."

"I think we've already covered the difficulties with that," Silver-kun sighed with feigned reluctance. He removed his hand and turned in the direction of the door. "No, it looks like I'm going to have to get the boys to bat clean up for me. Too bad." He took a single step towards the exit.

"Fuck me in the ass."

The request was soft, almost inaudible. Silver-kun turned back toward his new conquest. "What was that? I don't think I heard you right."

"Fuck my ass," Hinako said more loudly.

Silver-kun gave a loud, "Hmm... I thought you didn't want it in there."

"I do now," she said with an effort.

Silver-kun shook his head, his voice taking on an almost menacing tone. "You don't sound sincere to me. I'm not going to do you in the butt unless I think you mean it. You did tell me 'Not in the ass' after all, and that was very convincing. Very convincing indeed." Silver-kun turned back towards the door.

"Please fuck my ass raw, Silver-sama."

The way she raised her ass as high as she could for him, combined with the soft, almost demure way the request had been made let Silver-kun know that this time she was being sincere.

With her last defiant gesture stripped away, Hinako finally allowed herself to become completely submissive to him and all of his desires. In truth, she felt better knowing that she was now belonged to him in spirit as well as in body. The fear she had of alienating her newfound lover far outweighed the trepidation of anal sex.

"Now that's more like it," Silver-kun went back to his former position and prepared to mount Hinako again. For the briefest of moments he considered just forcing his way in, but then reconsidered. It was true she had defied him and deserved to be punished, but the threat of disciplining had brought her in line, had actually bound her completely to him. Such devotion should be rewarded. He did care for his new love slave, after all.

He plunged his fingers into her soft folds of womanhood. The juices he craved were rewarded to him in moments. Now wet, he worked a single knuckle of one of his fingers into Hinako's non-resisting ass. He shuttled it in and out, taking his time until he was confident she was loosened enough to allow a second digit entry. Two eventually became three and the resistance grew less again.

Despite wanting to feel him ride her backside, Hinako was uncomfortable with the violation at first. Her worry lessened when she realized Silver-kun was going to loosen her first up this time with some digital manipulation. When the first finger entered, she grimaced in discomfort. However, once she learned how to relax her sphincter, the intrusion became less unpleasant,  
even when the other fingers were added. It was when they were withdrawn that the old worries took over, and she reflexively tightened up again.

Silver-kun felt Hinako tense up. He gave both asscheecks a strong squeeze.  
"It's going to be a tight fit, but trust me, once it's up there and you get used to it, you'll never want to go back."

That show of concern for her relaxed Hinako. "I can't wait to feel you inside me, Silver-sama."

He pried her asscheeks apart and looked at the inviting hole before him. He swore his erection got stiffer at the sight. "Oh yeah, time to mine the last shaft." And with that he thrust forward, driving the head of his prick and the first couple inches into the incredibly tight opening. He heard Hinako grunt at taking his meat, and he let her adjust to the new companion in her backside.

Hinako gasped at the intruder. It was way larger than the fingers that had paved the way before. She was relieved Silver-kun was giving her a chance to adjust, though it didn't feel like anywhere near enough time as he drew back until only the head was in, then thrust forward again, burying even more inside. The resistance was still considerable, so he dropped a hand down between Hinako's legs, dancing his fingers over her pussy in an effort to stimulate two areas at once and distract her from how forcefully she was being taken.

Sweat covered Hinako's body in a slick sheen as an ever increasing amount of dick plunged into her tight hole. It felt like someone was trying to saw her in half from the inside as Silver-kun's firm strokes continued steadily. It certainly felt like he was making good on his word, with only the fingers up her cunt helping to counter the demands on her attention Silver-kun's dick was making As the final inch penetrated her backside, Silver-kun buried to the hilt, Hinako doubted if she would ever be able to walk right again.

On Silver-kun's part, he took a moment to relax as he rested his member in Hinako's backside. Now that the hard part was over, (well, not the hard part between HIS legs) he could really begin to fuck her the way she deserved.  
After all, he had a promise to keep, and rarely were they so pleasurable to see through to the end.

"I knew you could take it all. Now comes the good part" he reassured her with an affectionate pat to her cheeks.

No cry escaped her lips as Hinako felt Silver-kun start to slide back and forth in her back channel, the lining of her insides sending shivers up her spine as the messages of pain began to switch over to those of pleasure. At last she was starting to relax under her lover's forceful ministrations. The pain lessened, both from getting used to the intruder in her ass, as well as the way Silver-kun's fingers played over her pussy. Signals now went out from between her legs, as well as her behind, telling her that the pain didn't matter to the pleasure that was building up.

Within a couple of minutes, Hinako began gasping, "Oh, oh god! It feels good. Oh, yessss. I...I'm going to cum, Silver-sama!"

"Damn right you are!" He grunted as he continued shuttling in and out,  
despite feeling her shake with the fury of an orgasm. There was a sense of satisfaction at that. He knew he could make her into a very willing recipient of his assfuck, just like he got her to enjoy everything else that had happened today. Spanking, bondage, oral, and vaginal, he swore she was going to take everything he threw at her with desire in her eyes and a cry of ecstasy on her lips.

He withdrew his fingers from her pussy. The urging of his shaft demanded release of all of his pent up energy. He had been administering various forms of pleasure to Hinako without gaining some for himself.

The combination of watching his dick disappear into his love-slaves's voluptuous ass and her moans of approval really drove him wild. He was getting close to needing to blow his wad again, though he was damned if he wouldn't take her with him. With Hinako properly loosened up, he was able to slide much more smoothly through her rectum. He began pounding in and out of her lovely ass with increasing force, almost as though it were her pussy.  
Immediately he was rewarded with an increase in moaning, even as Hinako was coming down from the first orgasm.

Relentlessly, Silver-kun refused to let her relax as his strokes continued to increase in tempo. He reached forward, continuing to pump even as he forced his hands between Hinako and the desk and clutched her unattended breasts. Roughly he played with them, squeezing them like ripe melons and rolling the bullet-hard nipples between his fingers.

He growled in her ear, "You like that, don't you, you slut? You love me fucking your sweet ass, don't you? Don't you?!"

The relentless hammering prevented Hinako from answering right away. It took her several moments to get out through clenched teeth, "Fuck my ass raw.  
Fuck it! Fuck it!"

Answering the request with animalistic fury, Silver-kun stopped trying to hold off and erupted inside Hinako's hot and willing backside, his hands all but mauling her breasts in the process. An incredible amount of his seed was discharged deep in the bowels of his lover's rectum.

The sensation of shooting his wad in her ass and squeezing her breasts sent Hinako into the frenzy of yet another hard orgasm. She came in concert with her lover, crying out as she basked in the discipline, love, affection, and flooded loins he had given her. No other had ever come close to making her cum so powerful and easily.

In too short a time their mutual orgasm passed. The two remained like that for several minutes, Silver-kun's form all but collapsed on top of Hinako.  
It had been an incredible joining of sorts, but more of a simple emotional one than the spiritual/physical coupling with Ranko. Still, it was easily one of the most intense experiences he had ever had. Silver-kun knew he would remember it for the rest of his life.

With great reluctance he extracted his now limp meat from out of her backside. He took one last look to admire her beautiful tied up form,  
silently wishing they could remain like this for a while longer. But it could not be. They had already spent too long like this, and it was time to move on.

Moving quickly, he untied her bonds. Going first for the legs, then the one around her wrists. Hinako felt depressed that the 'lesson' was over, though she had certainly learned it well. And she was quite sore from the rough (but pleasurable) treatment she had received, and probably did need a chance to recover from their festivities.

Just as she tried to stand, her legs gave out. She would have fallen had Silver-kun not been watching her closely. He caught her just as she sagged,  
then carried her in his arms just as a groom would his newlywed bride. The mental comparison made Hinako cling to him more tightly.

Silver-kun sat down with her in his lap, this time in a repose of affection.  
He fondled one of her breasts as he allowed her to relax in his embrace.  
"You are okay, right?"

Hinako smiled demurely and nodded her head.

He gazed at her in approval. "Do you have a jacket? You're blouse ain't going to be covering anything, and I don't want anyone looking at these beautiful tits of yours except me."

Again she nodded, thrilled at his possessive attitude towards her. When she was certain he was done inquiring, she spoke hesitantly "Silver-sama, might I ask as question?"

He looked at her curiously. "Go on."

"Will I be allowed to join with you in this manner again?

He handled one of her breasts roughly and smirked. "Bitch, from now on I'm going to be fucking every one of your holes so much, you're going to think my dick's become a permanent part of you."

After making that declaration, Silver-kun brought her mouth to his and kissed. It wasn't the domineering rape their first one had been but a tender caring one, which made Hinako's heart soar even higher, even though she knew they were both aware of the truth: there was no possibility of a 'real'  
relationship between them. Discounting the unconventional nature of their union, there were too many other factors standing in their way. The age difference. The nature of Hinako's job. The separate directions their lives were taking. The many suitors vying for Silver's attention, and the fact they had more in common with the sex-changing girl than Hinako ever would.

Not that it meant they couldn't indulge in some fun and satisfy their mutual voracious appetites. This was, reduced in simplest terms, the best time Hinako ever had in her life, and she had no desires to have it end. She vowed to herself to be the best lover to her 'master/mistress' she could be,  
placing his wants and needs before her own.

Despite that knowledge of boundaries between them, Hinako felt her life full and satisfied. No matter what was to come, she would never be disappointed in the choice she had made.

Outside in the hall, sensing the action was over, Yuriko Kuonji moved away from the little window near the top of the door to the classroom. She had sought out Silver in an attempt to avenge herself of the wrongs the silver-haired temptress had committed against her in the morning. After she had waited outside the gates and Silver hadn't shown up, Yuriko went looking for her prey in the school. She arrived outside the room just in time to witness Silver-kun lunge at Hinako and pin her to the desktop. A mixture of terror and voyeurism had filled Yuriko as she mentally debated against heading for the hills or watching events unfold. She ended up observing the start, becoming fascinated as she watched Hinako broken down from high-and-mighty disciplinarian to a submissive sex toy in just under forty-five minutes.

Yuriko crept away silently from the door, trembling in fright. Was she insane?! How could she think for one second that she should seek revenge on a powerful sex-fiend like Silver Saotome?! She never guessed such forbidden passions existed beneath her longtime companion's brash exterior. Yuriko knew she wouldn't last ten minutes under that sort of treatment. Why, with all the trouble she had given the silver-haired girl over the last few months, it was probably a miracle that she hadn't ended up tied down and made into Silver's personal bitch too. True, they had intercourse before when Silver had tricked her (or so Yuriko told herself), but she had willingly gone along each time. It was only a miracle she hadn't tried to resist. Silently Kuonji vowed that she would behave herself from now on and do whatever Silver wanted, no matter how wild or distasteful. Anything was preferable to being tied up and spanked until she bawled like a little school girl.

Feeling her very life was in potential danger, Yuriko quickly fled school and to the safety of her home.

Silver-kun was just leaving the school grounds when he gave a look back at the large building and thought about what he had done. Now that he had a chance to cool down and his Miroku juice level had been depleted to non-effectual levels, the now dark-haired Saotome had only one thought go through his mind.

"Oh dear god! What have I gotten myself mixed up in now?" he cried out as he proceeded to bash his head into the nearby wall. Cursing out loud, he knew exactly what had happened:

The ole' Saotome luck had struck once again.


End file.
